DO NOT COMMIT - LARGE SPLIT NEEDS STAFF INPUT

Azores Chaffinch Fringilla moreletti, Madeira Chaffinch F. maderensis, Canary Islands Chaffinch F. canariensis, andAfrican Chaffinch F. spodiogenys are split from Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs (Clements 2007:625626)

Details: While all European forms (except the nominate) long treated as conspecific under Fringilla coelebs (Mayr 1968) were originally described as subspecies, all taxa from Macaronesian islands and northern Africa were described as full species. The complex has long been recognized for its marked polytypy and has been well-studied (summarized in Illera et al. 2016), including the considerable vocal disparity which however is of unclear significance for species limits in this complex due to vocal learning (e.g., Lachlan et al. 2013). Illera et al. (2016) proposed considering the taxa of each of the three main Macaronesian island groups as separate species, but this has not been widely followed. Shirihai and Svensson (2018) concluded based on unexpected results in early genetic analyses that all should be considered conspecific. However, the integrative taxonomic analysis of Recuerda et al. (2021) provided a solid framework in terms of morphological and genetic analysis that WGAC, Gill et al. (2023, IOC v.13.2), and Clements et al. (2023) agree strongly supports the recognition of five species, with the African forms being the weakest species candidate, despite the most obvious plumage differences.