NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Black-headed Canary
Serinus alario (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 black-headed canary (Serinus alario) is a species of finch found in Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. It is sometimes placed in the genus Alario as Alario alario
Its habitat is dry open scrub and grassland, the edges of cultivation and suburban gardens.
Wikipedia contributors, Black-headed canary; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:36:46.546411+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Serinus alario (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Black-headed Canary
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Serinus
- 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
- familyFringillidae Leach, 1820
- genusSerinus Koch, 1816
- speciesSerinus alario (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Serinus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic CanarySerinus canaria (Linnaeus, 1758) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cape CanarySerinus canicollis (Swainson, 1838) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-crowned CanarySerinus flavivertex (Blanford, 1869) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ethiopian SiskinSerinus nigriceps Rüppell, 1840 | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| European SerinSerinus serinus (Linnaeus, 1766) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Syrian SerinSerinus syriacus Bonaparte, 1850 | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-fronted SerinSerinus pusillus (Pallas, 1811) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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=562933 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:4WV6D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.