Taxonomy
The species is divided into two major groups, each comprising several races. The two groups intergrade at their boundary, so the caniceps group is not recognised as a distinct species despite its readily distinguishable plumage.
- Carduelis carduelis carduelis group.
- Carduelis carduelis balcanica. Southeastern European
- Carduelis carduelis brevirostris. Crimea, north Caucasus.
- Carduelis carduelis britannica. British Isles.
- Carduelis carduelis carduelis. Most of European mainland, Scandinavia.
- Carduelis carduelis loudoni. South Caucasus, Iran.
- Carduelis carduelis major. Western Siberia.
- Carduelis carduelis niediecki. Southwest Asia, northeast Africa.
- Carduelis carduelis parva. Atlantic Macaronesic Islands (Canary I., Madeira), Iberia, northwest Africa.
- Carduelis carduelis tschusii. Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily.
- Carduelis carduelis caniceps group.
- Carduelis carduelis caniceps. Southern central Asia.
- Carduelis carduelis paropanisi. Afghanistan to western Himalaya and Tien Shan.
- Carduelis carduelis subulata. South-central Siberia.
Linnaeus classified the bird as Fringilla carduelis.
The phylogeny has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al.
Read more about this topic: European Goldfinch