Citril finch
The citril finch (Carduelis citrinella), also known as the Alpine citril finch, is a small songbird, a member of the true finch family, Fringillidae. For a long time, this cardueline finch was placed in the genus Serinus, but it is apparently very closely related to the European goldfinch (C. carduelis). This bird is a resident breeder in the mountains of southwestern Europe from Spain to the Alps. Its northernmost breeding area is found in the Black Forest of southwestern Germany. Taxonomy The citril finch was formally described by the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 under the binomial name Fringilla citrinella. The current genus name Carduelis is the Latin word for the European goldfinch, and the specific epithet citrinella is the Italian word for a small yellow bird. It is a diminutive of the Latin citrinus meaning citrine or light greenish-yellow. The Corsican finch (Carduelis corsicana) was at one time considered as conspecific with the citril finch, but is now treated as a separate species. Molecular genetic studies have shown that the citril finch is closely related to the European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis). Description and systematics The citril finch has an overall length of and weighs around . It