African Firefinch

About the African Firefinch

The African firefinch (Lagonosticta rubricata), also called the blue-billed firefinch, is a common species of estrildid finch found in many parts of Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 5,400,000 km2 (2,100,000 mi2).

The African firefinch was formally described in 1823 by the German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein. He placed it with the finches in the genus Fringilla and coined the binomial name Fringilla rubricata. Lichtenstein gave the locality as "terra Caffrorum". This has been restricted to the town of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The specific epithet rubricata is from Latin rubricatus meaning "orange-red" or "ruddy". The African firefinch is now placed in the genus Lagonosticta that was introduced in 1851 by Jean Cabanis. An alternative common name for this species is the blue-billed firefinch.

Five subspecies are recognised. L. r. polionota Shelley, 1873 – south Senegal to Nigeria L. r. congica Sharpe, 1890 – Cameroon to south Sudan, west Uganda, south, east DR Congo and north Angola L. r. haematocephala Neumann, 1907 – east Sudan, Ethiopia, central, south Uganda, west, central Kenya south to Zambia, Malawi, east... Wikipedia →