''Cardinalis'' is a genus of birds in the family

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (sometimes referred to as "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply "cardinals") is a family of New World-Endemism, endemic passerine birds that consists of Cardinalis, cardinals, grosbeaks, and Passerina, buntings. It also includes several ot ...

. There are three species ranging across North America to northern South America.

Description

They are birds between 19 and 22 cm in length. Its most distinctive characteristics are the presence of a conspicuous crest and a thick and strong conical bill. There is

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

; males have a greater amount of red in their plumage, and females have only some tints, with a predominance of gray. Its striking red plumage is likened to a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

senior priest's garments, and their genus is named after the Latin word for them, ''cardinalis''. Immature individuals are similar to females.

Species

Phylogeny

Cladogram based on analysis by Tilston Smith and Klicka published in 2013.https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Multilocus-species-tree-and-mtDNA-tree-for-Cardinalis-cardinalis-and-allies-Species-tree_fig2_235778391

References

External links

* * Bird genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Passeroidea-stub