Taczanowski’s Brushfinch

Taczanowski's brushfinch or Peruvian slaty brushfinch (Atlapetes taczanowskii) is a species of passerine bird in the New World sparrow family Passerellidae. It is endemic to Peru. == Taxonomy and systematics == Taczanowski's brushfinch was formally described in 1874 by the Polish zoologist Władysław Taczanowski with the binomial Buarremon mystacalis, based on a specimen collected in the Andes of central Peru. Unfortunately, he chose a specific epithet that had been used in 1852 by Philip Sclater for Arremon mysticalis, now considered to be a junior synonym of Atlapetes albofrenatus Boissonneu, 1840, the moustached brushfinch. In 1875 the English ornithologists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin proposed the replacement name Buarremon taczanowskii for this species. In the early twentieth century genus Buarremon was merged into Atlapetes. Taczanowski's brushfinch was long treated as a subspecies of the slaty brushfinch (Atlapetes schistaceus). A study published in 2015 found significant differences in morphology, vocalizations, and mitochondrial DNA sequences between the two. BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World restored Taczanowski's brushfinch as a species in 2016. The IOC and the Clements taxonomy followed suit in 2024, though Clements calls it the Peruvian slaty brushfinch. The first version of AviList in 2025 also recognized it.…