Mountain finch
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{{Taxobox
| name = Mountain finches
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[bird|Aves]]
| ordo = [[Passeriformes]]
| familia = [[Fringillidae]]
| subfamilia = [[Carduelinae]]
| genus = '''''Leucosticte'''''
| genus_authority = [[William Swainson|Swainson]], 1832
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
See text.
}}
The '''mountain finches''' are [[bird]]s in the genus '''''Leucosticte''''' from the true [[finch]] family Fringillidae. This genus also includes the '''rosy finches''' named from their pinkish plumage. They are apparently closely related to the [[bullfinch|bullfinches]] (Marten & Johnson, 1986) and to the [[Pine Grosbeak]] (Arnaiz-Villena ''et al.'', 2001), diverging from them not quite a dozen [[mya (unit)|mya]], at the end of the Middle [[Miocene]].
These birds are typically found in barren mountainous regions. Many species eat more insect material than other finches.
The full list of species is:
* [[Plain Mountain Finch]], ''Leucosticte nemoricola''
* [[Black-headed Mountain Finch]], ''Leucosticte brandti''
* [[Tawny-headed Mountain Finch]], ''Leucosticte sillemi''
* [[Asian Rosy Finch]], ''Leucosticte arctoa''
* [[Gray-crowned Rosy Finch]], ''Leucosticte tephrocotis''
* [[Black Rosy Finch]], ''Leucosticte atrata''
* [[Brown-capped Rosy Finch]], ''Leucosticte australis''
==References==
* '''Arnaiz-Villena''', A.; Guillén, J.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; Lowy, E.; Zamora, J.; Varela, P.; Stefani, D. & Allende, L. M. (2001): Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches. ''Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences'' '''58''': 1159–1166. [http://chopo.pntic.mec.es/~biolmol/publicaciones/crossbills.pdf PDF fulltext]
* '''Arnaiz-Villena''', A., Moscoso, J., Ruiz-del-Valle, V., Gonzalez, J., Reguera, R., Ferri, A., Wink, M., Serrano-Vela, J. I. 2008. Mitochondrial DNA Phylogenetic Definition of a Group of ‘Arid-Zone’ Carduelini Finches. The Open Ornithology Journal, Volume 1: pp.1-7. (Free download available at http://www.bentham.org/open/tooenij/openaccess2.htm) <small>{{doi| 10.2174/1874453200801010001}}</small>
* '''Marten''', Jill A. & '''Johnson''', Ned K. (1986): Genetic relationships of North American cardueline finches. ''[[Condor (journal)|Condor]]'' '''88'''(4): 409-420. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v088n04/p0409-p0420.pdf PDF fulltext]
[[Category:Leucosticte|*]]
[[Category:Genera of birds]]
[[fr:Leucosticte]]
[[no:Fjellfinker]]
[[fi:Vuoripeipot]]