What is "serinus"

Serinus is a genus of small birds in the finch family Fringillidae found in Europe and Africa. The birds usually have some yellow in their plumage. The genus was introduced in 1816 by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch.

A large number of species were at one time assigned to the genus but it became clear from phylogenetic studies of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences that the genus was polyphyletic. This was confirmed by Dario Zuccon and coworkers in a comprehensive study of the finch family published in 2012. The authors suggested splitting the genus into two monophyletic clades, a proposal that was accepted by the International Ornithologists' Union. The genus Serinus was restricted to the European serin and seven other species while a larger monophyletic clade from Africa and Arabia was assigned to the resurrected genus Crithagra.

The genus contains eight species:

• Red-fronted serin, Serinus pusillus
• European serin, Serinus serinus
• Syrian serin, Serinus syriacus
• Atlantic canary, Serinus canaria
• Cape canary, Serinus canicollis
• Yellow-crowned canary, Serinus flavivertex
• Ethiopian siskin, Serinus nigriceps
• Black-headed canary, Serinus alario