Piranga

This article is about the bird genus. For the Brazilian municipality, see Piranga, Minas Gerais.

Piranga
Scarlet tanager
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cardinalidae
Genus: Piranga
Vieillot, 1808
Type species
Muscicapa rubra[1] = Fringilla rubra
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

See species list

Piranga is a genus of birds long placed in the tanager family, but now considered members of the family Cardinalidae. The genus name Piranga is from Tupi word tijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird.

Similar in shape and habits to the true tanagers, their coloration betrays their actual relationships. They are essentially red, orange, or yellow all over, except the tail and wings, and in some species also the back. Such extensive lipochrome coloration (except on the belly) is very rare in true tanagers, but is widespread among the Cardinalidae.

These songbirds are found high in tree canopies, and are not very gregarious in their breeding areas. Piranga species pick insects from leaves, or sometimes in flight. They also take some fruit. Several species are migratory, breeding in North America and wintering in the tropics.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Piranga was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1808 with the summer tanager (Piranga rubra) as the type species.[2][3] The genus name Piranga is from the Tupi Tijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird.[4]

Genus Piranga – Vieillot, 1808 – eleven species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Flame-colored tanager


Male
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Female

Piranga bidentata
Swainson, 1827

Four subspecies
  • P. b. bidentata
  • P. b. flammea
  • P. b. sanguinolenta
  • P. b. citrea,
Mexico, and throughout Central America to northern Panama
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Red-headed tanager


Male

 Piranga erythrocephala
(Swainson, 1827) 		Mexico
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Hepatic tanager


Male
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Female

Piranga hepatica
(Swainson, 1827)

Five subspecies
  • P. h. hepatica Swainson, 1827
  • P. h. dextra Bangs, 1907
  • P. h. figlina Salvin & Godman, 1883
  • P. h. savannarum T.R. Howell, 1965
  • P. h. albifacies J.T. Zimmer, 1929
Southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, and locally in southern California and Colorado), Mexico & Central America
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Tooth-billed tanager


Male
{{{image-alt2}}}
Female

Piranga lutea
(Lesson, 1834)

Six subspecies
  • P. l. testacea P.L. Sclater & Salvin, 1868
  • P. l. faceta Bangs, 1898
  • P. l. haemalea Salvin & Godman, 1883
  • P. l. toddi Parkes, 1969
  • P. l. desidiosa Bangs & Noble, 1918
  • P. l. lutea (Lesson, 1834)
northwestern South America
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Red tanager


Male
{{{image-alt2}}}
Female

Piranga flava
(Vieillot, 1822)

Four subspecies
  • P. f. macconnelli C. Chubb, 1921
  • P. f. rosacea Todd, 1922
  • P. f. saira (von Spix, 1825)
  • P. f. flava (Vieillot, 1822)
eastern South America
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


White-winged tanager


Male
{{{image-alt2}}}
Female

Piranga leucoptera
Trudeau, 1839

Four subspecies
  • P. l. leucoptera
  • P. l. latifasciata
  • P. l. venezuelae
  • P. l. ardens
Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Western tanager


Male
{{{image-alt2}}}
Female

Piranga ludoviciana
(Wilson, 1811) 		Southeastern Alaska south to northern Baja California, Mexico. Western tanagers extend east to western Texas and north through central New Mexico, central Colorado, extreme northwest Nebraska, and areas of western South Dakota to southern Northwest Territories, Canada
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Scarlet tanager


Male
{{{image-alt2}}}
Female

Piranga olivacea
(Gmelin, 1789) 		Eastern United States. Migrate to Central and northern South America
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Rose-throated tanager


Male

 Piranga roseogularis
(Cabot, 1846)

Three subspecies
  • P. r. roseogularis
  • P. r. tincta
  • P. r. cozumelae
Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Summer tanager


Male
{{{image-alt2}}}
Female

Piranga rubra
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Two subspecies
  • P. r. cooperi Ridgway, 1869
  • P. r. rubra (Linnaeus, 1758)
Southern United States, extending as far north as Iowa. These birds migrate to Mexico, Central America and northern South America
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Red-hooded tanager

Piranga rubriceps
(Gray, 1844) 		Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 




References

  1. ^ "Cardinalidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1807). Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale : contenant un grand nombre d'espèces décrites ou figurées pour la première fois (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Chez Desray. p. iv. For a discussion of the publication date see: Dickinson, E.C.; Overstreet, L.K.; Dowsett, R.J.; Bruce, M.D. (2011). Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers. Northampton, UK: Aves Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-9568611-1-5.
  3. ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 301.
  4. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 308. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
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