The chestnut-throated seedeater (Sporophila telasco) is a Neotropical songbird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Taxonomy and systematics
The chestnut-throated seedeater has a somewhat complicated taxonomic history. It was formally described in 1828 with the binomial Pyrrhula telasco. For a time it bore the binomial Spermophila telasco but by 1938 had been reassigned to its present genus Sporophila. Sporophila was a genus in the family Emberizidae. Based on studies published between 1988 and 2011, beginning in 2012 Sporophila was moved to the tanager family Thraupidae.
What had been called the Tumaco seedeater (S. insulata) (Chapman, 1921) was later proven to be genetically indistinguishable from the chestnut-throated despite having more chestnut on its underparts. It was therefore merged into the chestnut-throated as a color morph.
