European Goldfinch - Taxonomy

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.