Black-throated Firefinch
Lagonosticta larvata (Rüppell, 1840)
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 black-faced firefinch (Lagonosticta larvata) is a common species of estrildid finch found in Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 2,100,000 km2.
It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Uganda. The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Lagonosticta vinacea was a separate species, but findings by Dowsett and Forbes-Watson in 1993 led to reassigning of the L. vinacea species as a population under L. larvata.
Wikipedia contributors, Black-faced firefinch; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:59:59.782191+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lagonosticta larvata (Rüppell, 1840)
- Name authority
- (Rüppell, 1840)
- Common name
- Black-throated Firefinch
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Estrildidae
- Genus
- Lagonosticta
- 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
- familyEstrildidae Bonaparte, 1850
- genusLagonosticta Cabanis, 1851
- speciesLagonosticta larvata (Rüppell, 1840)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lagonosticta. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| African FirefinchLagonosticta rubricata (Lichtenstein, 1823) | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mali FirefinchLagonosticta virata Bates, 1932 | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bar-breasted FirefinchLagonosticta rufopicta (Fraser, 1843) | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Landana FirefinchLagonosticta landanae Sharpe, 1890 | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown FirefinchLagonosticta nitidula Hartlaub, 1886 | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-bellied FirefinchLagonosticta rara (Antinori, 1864) | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Jameson's FirefinchLagonosticta rhodopareia (Heuglin, 1868) | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rock Firefinch.Lagonosticta sanguinodorsalis Payne, 1998 | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-billed FirefinchLagonosticta senegala (Linnaeus, 1766) | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chad FirefinchLagonosticta umbrinodorsalis Reichenow, 1910 | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
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=560645 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:3RXP5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.