NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Yellow-breasted Bunting
Emberiza aureola Pallas, 1773
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The yellow-breasted bunting (Emberiza aureola) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae that is found across the Boreal and East Palearctic. The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific aureola is Latin for "golden". The bird's call is a distinctive zick, and the song is a clear tru-tru, tri-tri.
Until 2004, the International Union for Conservation of Nature considered the yellow-breasted bunting to be a species of least concern. Since 2004, it has been gradually upgraded to a status of Critically Endangered due to rapid drops in population sizes. It is subject to heavy hunting pressure in China, through which most specimens pass during migration.
Wikipedia contributors, Yellow-breasted bunting; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:59:03.690075+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Emberiza aureola Pallas, 1773
- Name authority
- Pallas, 1773
- Common name
- Yellow-breasted Bunting
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Emberizidae
- Genus
- Emberiza
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyEmberizidae
- genusEmberiza Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesEmberiza aureola Pallas, 1773
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Emberiza. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Brown-rumped BuntingEmberiza affinis Heuglin, 1867 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Meadow BuntingEmberiza cioides J. F. Brandt, 1843 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-throated BuntingEmberiza elegans Temminck, 1836 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chestnut-eared BuntingEmberiza fucata Pallas, 1776 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Godlewski's BuntingEmberiza godlewskii Taczanowski, 1874 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gosling's BuntingEmberiza goslingi (Alexander, 1906) | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ortolan BuntingEmberiza hortulana Linnaeus, 1758 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Crested BuntingEmberiza lathami J. E. Gray, 1831 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pine BuntingEmberiza leucocephalos S. G. Gmelin, 1771 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pallas' Reed-BuntingEmberiza pallasi (Cabanis, 1851) | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Somali BuntingEmberiza poliopleura (Salvadori, 1888) | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Little BuntingEmberiza pusilla Pallas, 1776 | EmberizidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Schoeniclus aureolus (Pallas, 1773) (Pallas, 1773) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
North America
Southern Asia
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=554225 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:39FSL. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.