NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
American Pipit
Anthus rubescens (Tunstall, 1771)
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.
A Buff-bellied Pipit in Harney County, Oregon, USA. This subspecies, the nominate, is also known as the American Pipit.
Kathy & Sam from Beaverton OR, USA · 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 American pipit (Anthus rubescens), formerly known as the buff-bellied pipit, is a small songbird native to North America. It was first described by Marmaduke Tunstall in his 1771 Ornithologia Britannica. It was formerly classified as a form of the water pipit. The former subspecies, Siberian pipit, is now considered a distinct species.
Wikipedia contributors, American pipit; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:48:34.182800+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Anthus rubescens (Tunstall, 1771)
- Name authority
- (Tunstall, 1771)
- Common name
- American Pipit
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Anthus
- 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
- familyMotacillidae Horsfield, 1821
- genusAnthus Bechstein, 1805
- speciesAnthus rubescens (Tunstall, 1771)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Anthus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Correndera PipitAnthus correndera Vieillot, 1818 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-breasted PipitAnthus chloris Lichtenstein, 1842 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hellmayr's PipitAnthus hellmayri Hartert, 1909 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Short-billed PipitAnthus furcatus Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mountain PipitAnthus hoeschi Stresemann, 1938 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-throated PipitAnthus cervinus (Pallas, 1811) | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Berthelot's PipitAnthus berthelotii Bolle, 1862 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Water PipitAnthus spinoletta (Linnaeus, 1758) | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nilgiri PipitAnthus nilghiriensis Sharpe, 1885 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rosy PipitAnthus roseatus Blyth, 1847 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Paddyfield PipitAnthus rufulus Vieillot, 1818 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African Rock PipitAnthus crenatus Finsch & Hartlaub, 1870 | MotacillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Oceania
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=554127 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:67KF4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.