Scarlet finch

Scarlet finch
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Fringillidae
Subfamily:	Carduelinae
Genus:	Carpodacus
Species:	C. sipahi
Binomial name
Carpodacus sipahi (Hodgson, 1836)
Synonyms
Haematospiza sipahi, Erythrina sipahi

The scarlet finch (Carpodacus sipahi) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is found in the Himalayas from central Nepal eastwards to Vietnam and is found spottily in the adjacent hills of Northeast India and Southeast Asia as far south as Thailand. It is resident in the Himalayas, but many birds winter to the immediate south.^[2] Its natural habitat is temperate forests.

It was described by the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1836 under the binomial name Corythus sipahi.^[3] The species name sipahi comes from the Hindi word sipāhi for a soldier.^[4]

The scarlet finch was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Haematospiza but was moved to the rosefinch genus Carpodacus based on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies.^[5][6]

Gallery

• 
  Male at Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim, India
• 
  Male at Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim, India

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Haematospiza sipahi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
2. Clement, Peter; Harris, Alan; Davis, John (1993). Finches and Sparrows. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 100. ISBN 0-691-03424-9.
3. Hodgson, Brian Houghton (1836). "Notices of the ornithology of Nepal: New species of the thick billed finches". Asiatic Researches. 19: 151.
4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 357. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 5.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
6. Zuccon, Dario; Prŷs-Jones, Robert; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Ericson, Per G.P. (2012). "The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 62 (2): 581–596. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002.