Comparative analysis and distribution of Fringilla coelebs subspecies (Aves, Fringillidae) from the Crimea, the Caucasus, and Transcaspian Region [Russian]

摘要

The body size, plumage colors, and features of vocalization in chaffinches inhabiting mountain ridges of the Crimea, the Caucasus, and Transcaspian region were analysed. The significant differences in size, the degree of distinctions in coloring and its seasonal changes were analysed in all the subspecies investigated. The distinctions in vocalization and local differences of "rain-call" in chaffinches of the study area are discussed. F. c. solomkoi is restricted. only to the Crimean Peninsula. The F. c. caucasica area encompasses almost the whole territory of the Caucasus, but birds of its northwesternmost part (to 40degrees E) are represented by a hybrid population with F. c. solomkoi. F. c. alexandrovi occupies mainly the northern slope of the mountain systems in the southern Caspian region, from the Talysh in the west to the eastern offshoots of the Elbrus Mountain (between 48degrees E and 56degrees E). F. c. transcaspius is distributed in the Turkmenian-Khorassan mountains (from the Kopet-Dagh in the north to the Khaidari Mountains in the south).