The firefinches form a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

, ''Lagonosticta'', of small seed-eating African birds in the family

Estrildidae Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. Despite the word "fi ...

. The genus was introduced by the German ornithologists

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. Cabanis was born in Berlin to an old Huguenot family who had moved from France. Little is known of his early life. He studied at the University of Berlin from 18 ...

in 1851. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

was subsequently designated as the African firefinch. The name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''lagōn'' "flank" and ''stiktos'' "spotted". The genus ''Lagonosticta'' is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

to the brown twinspot which is placed in its own genus ''

Clytospiza The brown twinspot (''Clytospiza monteiri'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only member of the genus ''Clytospiza''. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of ...

''.

Species

The genus contains 11 species:

References

Finches Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Estrildidae-stub