NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Lesser Goldfinch
Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822)
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.
Lesser Goldfinch ( Eastern race) | Kerr WMA | Kerrville | TX|2018-05-06|12-11-15-2
Bettina Arrigoni · CC BY 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The lesser goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) is a small finch in the genus Spinus native to the Americas.
As is the case for most species in the genus Spinus, lesser goldfinch males have a black forehead, which females lack. Males in this species vary strikingly in the color of their back across their range, from green in western North America to black in the eastern Rocky Mountains and Texas south to northern South America; this variation has resulted in five subspecies being recognized.
Wikipedia contributors, Lesser goldfinch; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:26:23.084086+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822)
- Name authority
- (Say, 1822)
- Common name
- Lesser Goldfinch
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Spinus
- 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
- genusSpinus Koch, 1816
- speciesSpinus psaltria (Say, 1822)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Spinus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black-capped SiskinSpinus atriceps (Salvin, 1863) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-chinned SiskinSpinus barbatus (Molina, 1782) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red SiskinSpinus cucullatus (Swainson, 1820) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Saffron SiskinSpinus siemiradzkii (von Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 1884) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Eurasian SiskinSpinus spinus (Linnaeus, 1758) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| American GoldfinchSpinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-faced SiskinSpinus yarrellii (Audubon, 1839) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black SiskinSpinus atratus (d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Thick-billed SiskinSpinus crassirostris (Landbeck, 1877) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Antillean SiskinSpinus dominicensis (H. Bryant, 1867) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lawrence's GoldfinchSpinus lawrencei (Cassin, 1850) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hooded SiskinSpinus magellanicus (Vieillot, 1805) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Carduelis psaltria (Say, 1822) (Say, 1822) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
North America
South America
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=179254 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:4Z65V. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.