Passerellidae (New World Sparrows)

  • Phylogenetic placement: Passeri: Passerides: Passerida: Emberizoidea
  • Distribution: New World
  • Number of extant genera: 30
  • Number of extant species: 138

Traditional genus-level classification of extant Passerellidae following the AviList checklist v2025. (link) The number of subspecies is given in parentheses. 

[Notes: (1) The backbone phylogeny is based on Bryson et al., 2016, who included nearly all genera except AmphispizopsisCentronyx, Oreothraupis, Torreornis, and Xenospiza; (2) The relationships of the remaining genera are based on Klicka et al., 2014, and Barker et al., 2015. (3) The monophyly of Centronyx (ex Ammodramus) needs to be verified, as Barker et al., 2015 found bairdii sister to Xenospiza, and henslowii sister to Passerculus.]

References

Barker FK, Burns KJ, Klicka J, Lanyon SM, and Lovette IJ (2013), Going to extremes: contrasting rates of diversification in a recent radiation of New World passerine birds, Syst. Biol. 62, 298-320. (free pdf) 

Barker FK, Burns KJ, Klicka J, Lanyon SM, and Lovette IJ (2015), New insights into New World biogeography: An integrated view from the phylogeny of blackbirds, cardinals, sparrows, tanagers, warblers, and allies, Auk 132, 333-348. (free pdf)

Bonaccorso E, Navarro-Sigüenza AG, Sánchez-González LA, Peterson AT, and García-Moreno J (2008), Genetic differentiation of the Chlorospingus ophthalmicus complex in Mexico and Central America, J. Avian Biol. 39, 311-321. (free reading)

Bryson RW, Faircloth BC, Tsai WLE, McCormack JE, and Klicka J (2016), Target enrichment of thousands of ultraconserved elements sheds new light on early relationships within New World sparrows (Aves: Passerellidae), Auk 133, 451-458. (free pdf)

Cadena CD, Klicka J, and Ricklefs RE (2007), Evolutionary differentiation in the Neotropical montane region: Molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of Buarremon brush-finches (Aves, Emberizidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 44, 993-1016. (abstract)

Cadena CD, and Cuervo AM (2010), Molecules, ecology, morphology, and songs in concert: how many species is Arremon torquatus (Aves: Emberizidae)?, Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 99, 152-176. (free pdf)

Campagna L, Kopuchian C, Tubaro PL, and Lougheed SC (2014), Secondary contact followed by gene flow between divergent mitochondrial lineages of a widespread Neotropical songbird (Zonotrichia capensis), Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 111, 863-868. (abstract)

Carson RJ, and Spicer GS (2003), A phylogenetic analysis of the emberizid sparrows based on three mitochondrial genes, Mol. Phylogenetic. Evol. 29, 43-57. (abstract)

Cicero C, Mason NA, Benedict L, and Rising JD (2020), Behavioral, morphological, and ecological trait evolution in two clades of New World Sparrows (Aimophila and Peucaea, Passerellidae), PeerJ 8, e:9249. (free pdf)

DaCosta JM, Spellman GM, Escalante P, and Klicka J (2009), A molecular systematic revision of two historically problematic songbird clades: Aimophila and Pipilo, J. Avian Biol. 40, 206-216. (free reading)

Friis G, Alexandre P, Rodríguez-Estrella R, Navarro-Sigüenza AG, and Milá B (2016), Rapid postglacial diversification and long-term stasis within the songbird genus Junco: phylogeographic and phylogenomic evidence, Mol. Ecol. 25, 6175-95. (journal abstract) (author pdf)

García-Moreno J, Navarro-Sigüenza AG, Peterson AT, and Sánchez-González LA (2004), Genetic variation coincides with geographic structure in the common bush-tanager (Chlorospingus ophthalmicus) complex from Mexico, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 33, 186-196. (abstract)

Garcia-Moreno J, and Fjeldså J (2008), Re-evaluation of species limits in the genus Atlapetes based on mtDNA sequence data, Ibis 141, 199-207. (abstract)

Klicka J, and Spellman GM (2007), A molecular evaluation of the North American “grassland” sparrow clade, Auk 124, 537-551. (free pdf)

Klicka J, and Banks RC (2011), A generic name for some sparrows (Aves: Emberizidae), Zootaxa 2793, 67-68. (pdf)

Klicka J, Barker FK, Burns KJ, Lanyon SM, Lovette IJ, Chaves JA, and Bryson RW (2014), A comprehensive multilocus assessment of sparrow (Aves: Passerellidae) relationships, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 77, 177-182. (abstract)

McCallum Q, Askelson K, Fogarty FF, Natola L, Nikelski E, Huang A, and Irwin D (2024), Pronounced differentiation on the Z chromosome and parts of the autosomes in crowned sparrows contrasts with mitochondrial paraphyly: implications for speciation, J. Evol. Biol. 37, 171-188. (free pdf)

Navarro-Sigüenza AG, Peterson AT, Nyári A, García-Deras GM, and García-Moreno J (2008), Phylogeography of the Buarremon brush-finch complex (Aves, Emberizidae) in Mesoamerica, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 47, 21-35. (abstract)

Sánchez-González LA, Navarro-Sigüenza AG, Peterson AT, and García-Moreno J (2007), Taxonomy of Chlorospingus ophthalmicus in Mexico and northern Central America, Bull. Br. Ornithol. Club 127, 34-49. (pdf)

Sánchez-González LA, Navarro-Sigüenza AG, Krabbe NK, Fjeldså J, and García-Moreno J (2015), Diversification in the Andes: the Atlapetes brush-finches, Zool. Scr. 44, 135-152. (abstract)

Sánchez-Nivicela M, Avendaño JE, Sánchez-Nivicela JC, Torres A, Fuchs J, Bird B, and Bonaccorso E (2021), A taxonomic assessment of Chlorospingus flavopectus phaeocephalus and Chlorospingus semifuscus (Passeriformes: Passerellidae), including the description of a new subspecies, Zootaxa 5057, 151-180. (abstract)

Sandoval L, Epperly KL, Klicka J, and Mennill DJ (2017), The biogeographic and evolutionary history of an endemic clade of Middle American sparrows: Melozone and Aimophola (Aves: Passerellidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 110, 50-59. (abstract)

Slager DL, and Klicka J (2014), A new genus for the American Tree Sparrow (Aves: Passeriformes: Passerellidae), Zootaxa 3821, 398-400. (pdf)

Stiller J, Feng S, Chowdhury AA, Rivas-González I, Duchêne DA, Fang Q, Deng Y, Kozlov A, Stamatakis A, Claramunt S, Nguyen JMT, Ho SYW, Faircloth BC, Haag J, Houde P, Cracraft J, Balaban M, Mai U, Chen G, Gao R, Zhou C, Xie Y, Huang Z, Cao Z, Yan Z, Ogilvie HA, Nakhleh L, Lindow B, Morel B, Fjeldså J, Hosner PA, da Fonseca RR, Petersen B, Tobias JA, Székely T, Kennedy JD, Reeve AH, Liker A, Stervander M, Antunes A, Tietze DT, Bertelsen M, Lei F, Rahbek C, Graves GR, Schierup MH, Warnow T, Braun EL, Gilbert MTP, Jarvis ED, Mirarab S, and Zhang G (2024), Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes, Nature 629, 851-860. (pdf)

Taylor RS, Bramwell AC, Clemente-Carvalho R, Cairns NA, Bonier F, Dares K, and Lougheed SC (2021), Cytonuclear discordance in the crowned-sparrows, Zonotrichia atricapilla and Zonotrichia leucophrys, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 162, e:107216. (view pdf)

Weir JT, Bermingham E, Miller MJ, Klicka J, and González MA (2008), Phylogeography of a morphologically diverse Neotropical montane species, the Common Bush-Tanager (Chlorospingus ophthalmicus), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 47, 650-664. (abstract)