Brown Firefinch
Lagonosticta nitidula Hartlaub, 1886
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.
Male
Nigel Voaden from UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The brown firefinch (Lagonosticta nitidula) is a common species of estrildid finch found in Southern Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 1,300,000 km2.
It is found in Angola, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, southern Tanzania and northern areas of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The IUCN has classified the species as being of least concern.
Wikipedia contributors, Brown firefinch; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:42:12.292781+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lagonosticta nitidula Hartlaub, 1886
- Name authority
- Hartlaub, 1886
- Common name
- Brown 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 nitidula Hartlaub, 1886
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Black-throated FirefinchLagonosticta larvata (Rüppell, 1840) | EstrildidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| 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 |
| 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=560646 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.
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:3RXP6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.