See text Amaurospiza is a genus of seed-eating birds in the cardinal family Cardinalidae that are found in Central and South America.

These blue seedeaters are allopatrically distributed and show only small differences in plumage coloration and body measurements.

They are sexually dimorphic in plumage: the male is slaty blue while the female is tawny brown.

[3][4] The name is derived from the Ancient Greek amauros, meaning "dusky", and σπίζα (spíza), a catch-all term for finch-like birds.

It was moved to the cardinal family Cardinalidae based on a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2007.