Cabanis's Seedeater (Amaurospiza concolor) [XC5536]
by Ken Allaire from Cerro Gaital, Anton, Cocle, Panama (call)
Cabanis's Seedeater (Amaurospiza concolor) [XC46192]
by Richard Hoyer from Rio Tzendales, Mexico (song)
Subspecies
Amaurospiza concolor (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was previously split into Amaurospiza concolor and Amaurospiza relicta following Meyer de Schauensee (1970), but these two taxa have now been lumped as Cabanis's Seedeater (Amaurospiza concolor) following AOU (1998) and a review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group. Recent mitochondrial genetic data show that the genus Amaurospiza is not a member of the Emberizidae and instead indicate strong support for placement in the Cardinalidae (AOU 2009, SACC 2008).
Molecular data indicate that genus may belong in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae), rather than in present one. Subspecies relicta sometimes treated as a separate species.
Proposed subspecies grandior (described from Peña Blanca, in eastern Nicaragua) synonymized with nominate.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
relicta (Griscom, 1934) - Mountains of Guerrero, Morelos and Oaxaca, in south-western Mexico. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Slate-blue Seedeater (Amaurospiza relicta).
concolor Cabanis, 1861 - Southern Mexico (Chiapas), Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and western and central Panama.
aequatorialis Sharpe, 1888 - South-western Colombia (Nariño), western and central Ecuador (south-western Manabí and western Guayas; western slope of Andes southern locally to Loja) and northern Peru (Cajamarca, possibly also Piura). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Ecuadorian Seedeater (Amaurospiza aequatorialis).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet