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Summary

The dusky chlorospingus or dusky bush tanager (Chlorospingus semifuscus) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.

Taxonomy and systematics

The dusky chlorospingus was formally described in 1873 with its current binomial Chlorospingus semifuscus. From that time and into the twenty-first century the Chlorospingus species were members of the family Thraupidae, the "true" tanagers, though their position within the family were uncertain. Based on studies published in 2002, 2003, and 2007, beginning in 2010 taxonomic systems transferred Chlorospingus to its present sparrow family. The Chlorospingus species were originally called "bush tanagers" or "bush-tanagers". Beginning in 2013 systems began changing the English name of the members of the genus to "chlorospingus" because they were no longer considered tanagers.

The dusky chlorospingus' further taxonomy is unsettled. Since the middle of the twentieth century the species had been assigned two subspecies, the nominate C. s. semifuscus (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1873) and C. s. livingstoni (Bond, J and Meyer de Schauensee, 1940). A study published in 2021 determined that a population of the common chlorospingus (C. flavopectus) in southwestern Ecuador did not belong to that species but rather to the dusky chlorospingus. The Clements taxonomy accepted that newly-described subspecies C. s. xanthothorax in 2022. The IOC followed suit in 2025 and the initial version of AviList included it that same year. However, as of late 2025 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) had not recognized it. Also in 2025, Clements subdivided the species into three monotypic "groups", calling the nominate the "red-eyed", livingtoni the "northern", and xanthothorax the "El Oro" dusky chlorospinguses.

This article follows the three-subspecies model.