Finches (Fringillidae)

European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) - HBW 15, p. 542

French: Verdier d'Europe German: Grünfink Spanish: Verderón Común
Other common names: Common/Western Greenfinch

Taxonomy: Loxia chloris Linnaeus, 1758, Sweden.
Recent phylogenetic analysis indicates that this species is closest to C. sinica and C. spinoides, probably forming a superspecies with them and with C. ambigua (and presumably including also C. monguilloti). All may be only distantly related to present congeners, suggesting that resurrection of genus Chloris appropriate; comprehensive review of all taxa in current genus required in order to determine true relationships. Has hybridized with C. carduelis. Ten subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

harrisoni ( Clancey, 1940) - Britain (except N Scotland) and Ireland.
chloris ( Linnaeus, 1758) - N Scotland, Norway and N & C France E to C Urals, NW Kazakhstan and W Siberia, S to Hungary and N Ukraine; NE breeders migrate to S Europe.
aurantiiventris ( Cabanis, 1851) - Madeira, Canary Is, S France and Spain (except NW) E to Croatia, W & S Greece, Crete, Dodecanese and Cyprus, also N Tunisia & NW Libya; non-breeding also Morocco E to N Egypt.

See all 10 subspecies

harrisoni ( Clancey, 1940) - Britain (except N Scotland) and Ireland.
chloris ( Linnaeus, 1758) - N Scotland, Norway and N & C France E to C Urals, NW Kazakhstan and W Siberia, S to Hungary and N Ukraine; NE breeders migrate to S Europe.
aurantiiventris ( Cabanis, 1851) - Madeira, Canary Is, S France and Spain (except NW) E to Croatia, W & S Greece, Crete, Dodecanese and Cyprus, also N Tunisia & NW Libya; non-breeding also Morocco E to N Egypt.
muehlei Parrot, 1905 - Serbia, Macedonia, Romania and Moldova S to C & E Greece; non-breeding also E to W Asia Minor.
vanmarli Voous, 1951 - NW Spain, Portugal and NW Morocco.
voousi Roselaar, 1993 - C Morocco E to N Algeria.
madaraszi ( Tschusi, 1911) - Corsica and Sardinia.
chlorotica ( Bonaparte, 1850) - SC Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, W Jordan and NE Egypt.
bilkevitchi ( Zarudny, 1911) - S Ukraine (Crimea) E to Caucasus, NE Turkey, N Iran and SW Turkmenistan.
turkestanica ( Zarudny, 1907) - W & N Tien Shan from S Kazakhstan S to Kyrgyzstan and C Tajikistan; winters S to NW Afghanistan.