Other Scientific Names
Tiaris fuliginosa [BirdLife International (2004)], Tiaris fuliginosa [Stotz et al. (1996)], Tiaris fuliginosa [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)]
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Western and northern Venezuela (Sierra de Perijá, northern end of eastern slope of Andes, and coastal mountains from eastern Falcón and Carabobo east to Sucre; also Cerro Roraima, in eastern Bolívar); Trinidad; southern Guyana; and eastern Brazil (Maranhío and Ceará to north-eastern Goiás and Piauí; Pernambuco south to Sío Paulo) and extreme north-eastern Argentina (Misiones).
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Sooty Grassquit (Asemospiza fuliginosa) [XC421454]
by Fernando Igor de Godoy from RPPN Esta\u00e7\u00e3o Veracel, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil (song)
Sooty Grassquit (Asemospiza fuliginosa) [XC422914]
by Fernando Igor de Godoy from Sucupira - Santa Cruz Cabr\u00e1lia, Bahia, Brazil (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Genus may belong in tanager family (Thraupidae). Appears to be part of a clade which also includes several Caribbean genera (Euneornis, Loxipasser, Melopyrrha, Loxigilla, Melanospiza), Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), and "Darwin's finches" (Certhidea, Platyspiza, Pinaroloxias, Camarhynchus, Geospiza). Molecular data suggest that genus as currently constituted is polyphyletic. Further research is required. Birds from Sierra de Perijá (western Venezuela) described as subspecies zuliae and birds from Trinidad as fumosus, but both considered undiagnosable, as mensural and plumage characteristics variable throughout range of species.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet