The white-naped brushfinch (Atlapetes albinucha), also known as the yellow-throated brushfinch, is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found from Mexico to Ecuador.
Taxonomy and systematics
The white-naped brushfinch was formally described in 1838 with the binomial Embernagra albinucha. Subsequent authors placed it in genus Buarremon or Arremon before it was assigned to its present Atlapetes.
The white-naped brushfinch's further taxonomy is unsettled. The IOC and AviList assign it these seven subspecies:
A. a. albinucha (d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1838)
A. a. griseipectus Dwight & Griscom, 1921
A. a. fuscipygius Dwight & Griscom, 1921
A. a. parvirostris Dwight & Griscom, 1921
A. a. brunnescens Chapman, 1915
A. a. azuerensis Aldrich, 1937
A. a. gutturalis (Lafresnaye, 1843)
However, as of late 2025 the Clements taxonomy and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World add an eighth, A. a. coloratus (Griscom, 1924), that the IOC and AviList include in A. a. brunnescens.
For most of the twentieth century all of the subspecies except the nominate A. a. albinucha were treated as subspecies within the binomial Atlapetes gutturalis, the "yellow-throated brush-finch". The two differ mainly in their breast color but there is some genetic evidence that supports treating A. a. albinucha as a monotypic species and the others as a separate polytypic species. Clements recognizes the distinction, calling A. a. albinucha the "white-naped brushfinch (white-naped) and the others the "white-naped brushfinch (yellow-throated) A. albinucha (gutturalis group)".
This article follows the seven-subspecies model.
Description
Nominate subspecies A. a. albinucha
The white-naped brushfinch is 17 to 21 cm (6.7 to 8.3 in) long and weighs 31 to 37 g (1.1 to 1.3 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly black head with a wide white stripe in the middle of the crown...
