Italian Sparrow
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2008-06-17T13:46:03Z
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{{Taxobox
| name = Italian Sparrow
| image = Passer italiae 1 (loz).jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Male Italian Sparrow
| status =
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[Bird|Aves]]
| ordo = [[Passerine|Passeriformes]]
| familia = [[sparrow|Passeridae]]
| genus = ''[[Passer]]''
| species = '''''P. italiae'''''
| binomial = ''Passer italiae''
| binomial_authority = ([[Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1817)
}}
[[Image:Sparrowchick.JPG|thumb|Italian Sparrow chick resting in a tree]]
The '''Italian Sparrow''' (''Passer italiae'') is found in [[Italy]] (except [[Sardinia]]), and adjoining regions of southeasternmost [[France]] (including [[Corsica]]), southern [[Switzerland]], southwesternmost [[Austria]], and western [[Slovenia]].<ref name=ebcc>Hagemeijer, W. J. M., & Blair, M. J., eds. (1997). ''The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds''. Poyser, London ISBN 0-85661-091-7.</ref>
Its [[taxonomy|taxonomic]] status remains uncertain. It has been variously regarded as a stable [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] between [[House Sparrow]] and [[Spanish Sparrow]],<ref>Stephan, B. (1986). Die Evolutionstheorie und der taxonomische Status des Italiensperlings. ''Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berl.'' 62 (Suppl.): ''Ann. Ornithol.'' 10: 25-68.</ref><ref name=ebcc/> or as a [[subspecies]] of either House Sparrow<ref name=bwp>Snow, D. W. & Perrins, C. M. (1998). ''The Birds of the Western Palearctic'' Concise Edition. OUP ISBN 0-19-854099-X.</ref> or Spanish Sparrow.<ref name=smith>Summers-Smith, J. D. (1988). ''The Sparrows''. Poyser, London ISBN 0-85661-048-8.</ref> Most recently, Töpfer (2006) argues that it is a non-hybrid taxon, and that it and Spanish Sparrow are [[conspecific]].<ref>Töpfer, T. (2006). The taxonomic status of the Italian Sparrow – ''Passer italiae'' (Vieillot, 1817): Speciation by stabilised hybridisation? A critical analysis ''[[Zootaxa]]'' 1325: 117–145.</ref>
Italian Sparrows in northern and central Italy and Corsica are stable in appearance, with the males having a similar plumage pattern to a male House Sparrow, except with a red-brown (not grey) crown, and white (not pale grey) cheeks, both features of Spanish Sparrow. At the northernmost edge of its range in the southern [[Alps]], there is a narrow hybrid zone about 20 km wide with House Sparrow. Further south in southern Italy ([[Rome]] southwards), there is an increasing trend towards Spanish Sparrow in appearance, with increasing black markings on the flanks and back; birds in eastern [[Sicily]] are very similar to pure Spanish Sparrow, and those in western Sicily, Sardinia, and [[Malta]] being pure Spanish Sparrow.<ref name=bwp/><ref name=smith/><ref name=smith1>Summers-Smith, J. D. (1992). ''In Search of Sparrows''. Poyser, London ISBN 0-85661-073-9.</ref> Birds apparently identical to Italian Sparrows also occur on [[Crete]].<ref name=smith1/>
A more complex situation occurs in parts of coastal northern [[Africa]], particularly northeastern [[Algeria]], [[Tunisia]], and northwestern [[Libya]], where a highly variable mixed, interbreeding population of House Sparrows and Spanish Sparrows occurs; birds show a full range of characters from pure House Sparrows to pure Spanish Sparrows and everything between.<ref name=bwp/><ref name=smith1/>
==References==
<references />
==External links==
*[http://www.oiseaux.net/birds/photos/italian.sparrow.html Oiseaux]Photos
[[Category:Passeridae]]
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[[eo:Itala pasero]]
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