Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Population
Estimated population is 500,000 - 4,999,999 (2010).
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila) [XC384213]
by Jorge Daniel Ruiz Contreras from Delta del Estero Real, Nicaragua (song)
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila) [XC539834]
by Jerome Fischer from Mana Dulce, Cundinamarca, Colombia (song)
Subspecies
Molecular evidence suggests that genus is closely related to Oryzoborus, which should perhaps be subsumed within it. Further, that both genera should be placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae). This species was at one time considered conspecific with Tawny-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila hypoxantha), but molecular data and vocal details suggest that the two are not very closely related. A molecular-genetic study of 17 species in genus, including ten in "capped" group ("capuchinos"), indicated that latter form two clades, a northern clade largely north of R Amazon containing present species and Chestnut-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila castaneiventris), and a southern clade consisting of Copper Seedeater (Sporophila bouvreuil), Tawny-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila hypoxantha), Rufous-rumped Seedeater (Sporophila hypochroma), Dark-throated Seedeater (Sporophila ruficollis), Marsh Seedeater (Sporophila palustris), Chestnut Seedeater (Sporophila cinnamomea) and Black-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila melanogaster).
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
parva (Lawrence, 1883) - Arid Pacific lowlands from western Mexico (Nayarit) south to Nicaragua.
centralis Bangs & Penard, TE, 1918 - South-western Costa Rica and Pacific slope of Panama.
minuta (Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern Colombia south to north-western Ecuador, east to Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, the Guianas, and northern Brazil (north-western Amazonas, northern Roraima, and Amapá south to northern Pará).