11, see text The firefinches form a genus, Lagonosticta, of small seed-eating African birds in the family Estrildidae.

The genus was introduced by the German ornithologists Jean Cabanis in 1851.

[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the African firefinch.

[3] The name combines the Ancient Greek words lagōn "flank" and stiktos "spotted".

This Estrildidae-related article is a stub.