| Emblema | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male painted finch (Emblema pictum) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Estrildidae |
| Genus: | Emblema Gould, 1842 |
| Type species | |
| Emblema picta Gould, 1842 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Emblema is a genus of estrildid finches found in Australasia. They are gregarious seed-eaters with short, thick, but pointed bills.
Taxonomy
The genus Emblema was introduced in 1842 by the English ornithologist John Gould to accommodate a single species, Emblema picta Gould, the painted finch.[1][2] The genus name is from Latin emblema, emblematis meaning "inlaid" or "mosaic work".[3]
The genus contains three species:[4]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Painted finch | Emblema pictum | northern Australia (Pilbara region, including Barrow Island, central Western Australia, eastward to northwestern Queensland) |
 | Star finch | Emblema ruficauda | northwest to northeast (formerly central east) Australia |
 | Plum-headed finch | Emblema modestum | eastern Australia (northern Queensland to central New South Wales) |
References
- Gould, John (1842). The Birds of Australia. Vol. 3, part 7. London: self. Plate 97 and text. The 7 volumes were published in 36 parts. For the date see: Waterhouse, Frederick Herschel (1885). The Dates of Publication of Some of the Zoological Works of the Late John Gould, F.R.S. London: R.H. Porter. pp. 28–44.
- Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 353.
- Jobling, James A. "Emblema". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 19 November 2025.