The desert finch (''Rhodospiza obsoleta''), sometimes called Lichtenstein's desert finch, is a large brown

true finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

found in southern

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

. Its

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

is confused, and it has formerly been placed in ''

Fringilla The genus ''Fringilla'' is a small group of finches from the Old World, which are the only species in the subfamily Fringillinae. The genus name ''Fringilla'' is Latin for "finch". Taxonomy The genus ''Fringilla'' was introduced in 1758 by the ...

'', '' Bucanetes'', ''

Carduelis The genus ''Carduelis'' is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae. The genus ''Carduelis'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 by tautonomy based on Carl Linnaeus's specific epithet for the Europe ...

'' and ''

Rhodopechys Rhodopechys is a genus of finches containing the following two species: The desert finch, ''Carduelis obsoleta'' (formerly ''Rhodopechys obsoleta''), has turned out to belong to the (sub)genus ''Chloris'' in the genus ''Carduelis'' as indicate ...

''. It has an average wingspan of . It has a stout black bill, black and white

remiges Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

and

rectrices Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

, and a slash of rosy-pink on each wing. The female is more dull in color than the male, but other than that the adult sexes are similar in color pattern. The bird is indeed a desert resident in areas where water is readily available, but it can also be found in low mountains and foothills, and in cultivated valleys. It feeds on seeds and the occasional insect. Nesting occurs in trees in the spring, often in fruit trees in orchards, and the female lays and incubates 4 to 6 pale green, lightly speckled eggs. This species does not migrate except locally. The desert finch congregates near rural and remote human settlements, and the well-watered orchard in otherwise arid land is an ideal habitat. It can be found in feeding in large flocks of its own species or mixed finch flocks. Recent research by Zamora ''et al.'' (2006) has revealed that the desert finch is more closely related to the

greenfinch The greenfinches are small passerine birds in the genus ''Chloris'' in the subfamily Carduelinae within the Fringillidae. The species have a Eurasian distribution except for the European greenfinch, which also occurs in North Africa. These fi ...

es of the genus ''

'' (or '' Chloris'', if ''Carduelis'' is split up) as indicated by DNA sequence analysis, vocalizations, and the presence of a black eye-stripe. Genetically, it seems very close to the common ancestor of the greenfinches. It may be that the latter evolved from a desert form and later developed the green plumage, or that the common ancestor of the greenfinches and the desert finch (which lived around 6 million years ago) was a species of

semiarid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

habitat which subsequently diverged into a truly desert-adapted lineage, today represented by the desert finch, and the ancestor of a woodlands lineage, the greenfinches.

Origin of greenfinches

Rhodospiza obsoleta MHNT 224 Ferouzi Homs Syrie

The common ancestor of all

es, which are among the oldest ''Carduelis'' species, appeared on Earth around 9 MYA. One of these common ancestors is the desert finch, which now thrives in Asian deserts, but could have also inhabited African deserts.
This finch, with very pale colors and a breeding season mask similar to that of the common greenfinch, used to be classified, according to phenotypical (external) characters, close to the trumpeter finch, but it belongs to genus ''Carduelis'' according to several molecular studies. Two subfossil greenfinches, the slender-billed greenfinch, ''Carduelis aurelioi'', and the Trias greenfinch, ''Carduelis triasi'', are known from the Canary Islands.

References

*Groth, J. G. 1994. A mitochondrial cytochrome b phylogeny of cardueline finches. Journal für Ornithologie, 135: 31. *Lichtenstein, Martin Heinrich Carl: escription of ''Carduelis obsoleta'' ''In:'' Eversmann, Eduard Friedrich, ''Reise von Orenburg nach Buchara. Nebst einem Wortverzeichniss aus der Afghanischen Spracbe begleitet von einem naturhistorischen Anhange und einer Vorrede von Н. Lichtenstein'': Appendix 132. Berlin, 1822. n German {{Taxonbar, from=Q900715

desert finch The desert finch (''Rhodospiza obsoleta''), sometimes called Lichtenstein's desert finch, is a large brown true finch found in southern Eurasia. Its taxonomy is confused, and it has formerly been placed in ''Fringilla'', '' Bucanetes'', ''Cardu ...

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