NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Black-faced Canary
Crithagra capistrata Finsch, 1870
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.
Black-faced Canary (Serinus capistratus = Crithagra capistrata) – cropped image from plate XXIV from G. E. Shelley's publication The birds of Africa (vol. 3, 1902); illustration by Henrik Grönvold.
Henrik Grønvold · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The black-faced canary (Crithagra capistrata) is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Zambia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.
The black-faced canary was formerly placed in the genus Serinus but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic. The genus was therefore split and a number of species including the black-faced canary were moved to the resurrected genus Crithagra.
Wikipedia contributors, Black-faced canary; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:02:19.867731+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Crithagra capistrata Finsch, 1870
- Name authority
- Finsch, 1870
- Common name
- Black-faced Canary
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Crithagra
- 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
- genusCrithagra Swainson, 1827
- speciesCrithagra capistrata Finsch, 1870
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Crithagra. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| White-throated CanaryCrithagra albogularis A. Smith, 1833 | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-throated CanaryCrithagra atrogularis (A. Smith, 1836) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sao Tome GrosbeakCrithagra concolor (Barboza du Bocage, 1888) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-bellied CanaryCrithagra dorsostriata Reichenow, 1887 | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African CitrilCrithagra citrinelloides (Rüppell, 1840) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lemon-breasted CanaryCrithagra citrinipectus (Clancey & Lawson, 1960) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yemen SerinCrithagra menachensis (Ogilvie-Grant, 1913) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-eared SeedeaterCrithagra mennelli (E. C. Chubb, 1908) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-fronted CanaryCrithagra mozambica (P. L. Statius Müller, 1776) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western CitrilCrithagra frontalis (Reichenow, 1904) | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-rumped SeedeaterCrithagra leucopygia Sundevall, 1850 | FringillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Reichenow's SeedeaterCrithagra reichenowi (Salvadori, 1888) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Serinus capistratus (Finsch, 1870) (Finsch, 1870) | synonym |
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=997818 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:6BGKT. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.