Sierra Nevada brushfinch
species of bird

The Sierra Nevada brushfinch (Arremon basilicus) is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is endemic to Colombia.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Sierra Nevada brushfinch has a complicated taxonomic history. It was formally described in 1898 with the binomial Buarremon basilicus. Somewhat later it was reassigned as a subspecies of what was then called the stripe-headed brushfinch, Buarremon torquatus. In 2008 taxonomists began merging Buarremon into Arremon. Following a study published in 2010 and some earlier studies, taxonomists began splitting the "stripe-headed brushfinch" into eight species, one of which was the Sierra Nevada brushfinch.
The Sierra Nevada brushfinch is monotypic.
Description
The Sierra Nevada brushfinch is about 19 cm (7.5 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sierra Nevada brushfinch” is species of bird. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Sierra, Nevada and brushfinch, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “species of bird” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7511521. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1898, 2008 and 2010.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sierra Nevada brushfinch” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.