Olive Sparrow (Arremonops rufivirgatus) [XC401312]
by Manuel Grosselet from Frontera Audubon, Weslaco, Hidalgo County, Texas, United States (song)
Olive Sparrow (Arremonops rufivirgatus) [XC706010]
by Sue Riffe from Salineno Wildlife Preserve, Starr County, Texas, United States (song)
Subspecies
Relationships of genus not well understood; molecular evidence suggests that it is close to Rhynchospiza, Peucaea and some Ammodramus. This species sometimes considered to form a superspecies with Tocuyo Sparrow (Arremonops tocuyensis). Subspecies form three groups, "rufivirgatus group" (rufivirgatus, ridgwayi and crassirostris), brighter-plumaged "Yucatan group" (verticalis and rhyptothorax), and even brighter and shorter-tailed "Pacific group" (superciliosus, sinaloae, sumichrasti and chiapensis). They are sometimes considered to represent three separate species, but further study is needed. Subspecies ridgwayi weakly differentiated, and possibly an intergrade between nominate and crassirostris; verticalis intergrades with crassirostris in eastern Tabasco and Campeche and with rhyptothorax in central Yucatán.
The following 9 subspecies are recognised:
sinaloae Nelson, 1899 - Western Mexico from central Sinaloa south to Nayarit.
sumichrasti (Sharpe, 1888) - Western coast of Mexico from Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero south to Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Oaxaca).
rufivirgatus (Lawrence, 1851) - Extreme southern USA (southern Texas) and north-eastern Mexico from north-eastern Coahuila (San Juan de Sabinas) and Nuevo León south to southern coastal Tamaulipas.
ridgwayi (Sutton and Burleigh, 1941) - Southern interior of Tamaulipas, eastern San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo and northern Veracruz.
crassirostris (Ridgway, 1878) - Atlantic coast of south-eastern Mexico from central and southern Veracruz south to eastern Puebla and northern Oaxaca and eastern Tabasco.
verticalis (Ridgway, 1878) - Eastern Tabasco and Yucatán Peninsula (south-eastern Mexico) south to northern Guatemala (Petén) and northern Belize.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet