Botteri’s Sparrow

Botteri's sparrow (Peucaea botterii) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found from the southwestern United States to Costa Rica. == Taxonomy and systematics == The Botteri's sparrow was formally described in 1858 with the binomial Zonotrichia botterii. Its specific epithet and eventual English name honor Matteo Botteri, who collected the type specimen. It was later reassigned to genus Aimophila. Genus Peucaea had earlier been merged into Aimophila; in 2010 taxonomic systems began restoring Peucaea to generic status and moved Botteri's sparrow and several other species from Aimophila to it. The further taxonomy of Botteri's sparrow is unsettled. The IOC and AviList assign it these eight subspecies: P. b. arizonae Ridgway, 1873 P. b. texana (Phillips, AR, 1943) P. b. goldmani (Phillips, AR, 1943) P. b. botterii (Sclater, PL, 1858) P. b. petenica (Salvin, 1863) P. b. spadiconigrescens (Howell, TR, 1965) P. b. vantynei (Webster, JD, 1959) P. b. vulcanica (Miller, W & Griscom, 1925) However, as of late 2025 the Clements taxonomy and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World add a ninth, P. b. mexicana (Lawrence, 1867) that the other systems include within the nominate subspecies P. b.…