Rose-throated Tanager

About the Rose-throated Tanager

The rose-throated tanager (Piranga roseogularis) is a medium-sized songbird in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. Endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula in Central America, it is found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. The male has greyish plumage with a deep rose throat and crown, while the female is similar but for a yellow crown and throat.

American ornithologist Samuel Cabot III described the rose-throated tanager in 1846, having seen a pair in the Yucatán Peninsula and shooting the male. A 2019 genetic study using mitochondrial DNA showed that it was a basal (early offshoot) of a lineage

that gave rise to the scarlet, hepatic, summer, western and flame-colored tanagers. The rose-throated tanager and the other species of genus Piranga were originally placed in the family Thraupidae, the "true" tanagers. Since approximately 2008 they have been placed in their current family, the Cardinalidae.

The rose-throated tanager has three recognized subspecies, the nominate Piranga roseogularis roseogularis, P. r. tincta, and P. r. cozumelae. The rose-throated tanager is 16 cm (6.3 in) long and weighs 21 to 30 g (0.74 to... Wikipedia →