Passer domesticus
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Passer domesticus's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation21 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility24 321 916 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI165 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics169 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
IOC World Bird ListIOCbird checklist↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of 16 cm and a mass of 24–39.5 g. Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird. The house sparrow is strongly associated with human habitation, and can live in urban or rural settings. Though found in widely varied habitats and climates, it typically avoids extensive woodlands, grasslands, and deserts away from human development. It feeds mostly on the seeds of grains and weeds, but it is an opportunistic eater and commonly eats insects and many other foods. Its predators include domestic cats, hawks, and many other predatory birds and mammals. Because of its numbers, ubiquity, and association with human settlements, the house sparrow is culturally prominent. It is extensively, and usually unsuccessfully, persecuted as an agricultural pest. It has also often been kept as a pet, as well as being a food item and a symbol of lust, sexual potency, commonness, and vulgarity. Though it is widespread and abundant, its numbers have declined in some areas. The animal's conservation status is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. An audio recording of a house sparrow
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology13
Life cycle & reproduction12
Diet & foraging7
Habitat & environment4
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Passer domesticus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Passer domesticus carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 764×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database · GoaT · Bird Chromosome Database · GoaT · Animal Genome Size Database
2n 401×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 411×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 421×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 431×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 441×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 451×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 461×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 471×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 481×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 541×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 551×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 561×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 571×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 581×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 591×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
2n 601×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The solid bar is the fossil range: the span between the oldest and the youngest fossil that palaeontologists have assigned to Passer domesticus. Above itBeside it, each dot is one dated fossil find — few enough to count, so they are drawn individually rather than as a graph. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil. Where the DNA reaches further back than the oldest fossil, the gap is hatched: the ghost lineage. It means the lineage was already out there, but has left us nothing we have dug up yet.
How it livedPBDB
Record type24 321 928 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions67 of 141 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Wuzhou, CN | 7 752 |
| Helsinki, FI | 4 611 |
| Denver, US | 986 |
| Bergen, NO | 574 |
| Zoological Museum, Moscow Lomonosov State Universitylocation not on record | 429 |
| Seattle, US | 423 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 384 |
| US | 277 |
| Geneva, CH | 242 |
| Australian National Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 240 |
| Washington State University, Charles R. Conner Museumlocation not on record | 234 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 226 |
| Berkeley, US | 224 |
| Delaware Museum of Nature and Sciencelocation not on record | 190 |
| Liverpool, GB | 178 |
| Sydney, AU | 174 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 161 |
| Ithaca, US | 137 |
| Tacoma, US | 135 |
| Barcelona, ES | 134 |
| DOI/NPS, Salem Maritime National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 132 |
| Ohio State University - Bird Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 126 |
| München, DE | 122 |
| Zacatecas, MX | 120 |
| Auckland, NZ | 108 |
| Washington, US | 107 |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 98 |
| Provincia di Livornolocation not on record | 98 |
| San Diego, US | 83 |
| Museums Victorialocation not on record | 82 |
| Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record | 81 |
| ASNHClocation not on record | 77 |
| Salzburg, AT | 77 |
| Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record | 77 |
| Buenos Aires, AR | 75 |
| Brussels, BE | 72 |
| CASlocation not on record | 71 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 71 |
| Chicago, US | 71 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 63 |
| Mongolian Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 60 |
| Kuopio, FI | 57 |
| Stockholm, SE | 55 |
| Muzeum Górnośląskie w Bytomiulocation not on record | 51 |
| QVMAGlocation not on record | 49 |
| Philadelphia, US | 48 |
| SMNHTAUlocation not on record | 48 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 48 |
| EEZAlocation not on record | 47 |
| Oulu, FI | 45 |
| Morelia, MX | 44 |
| MZLUlocation not on record | 39 |
| Saint John, CA | 38 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 37 |
| EL PASO, US | 37 |
| Western Australian Museumlocation not on record | 37 |
| Mexico City, MX | 35 |
| SNSDlocation not on record | 35 |
| University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record | 34 |
| Indiana State Universitylocation not on record | 34 |
| Chicago, US | 33 |
| Science Museum of Minnesotalocation not on record | 33 |
| IMEDEAlocation not on record | 31 |
| Natural History Museum, Aarhus Denmarklocation not on record | 31 |
| Bonn, DE | 30 |
| Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental Collegelocation not on record | 29 |
| Albany, US | 28 |
| Honolulu, US | 28 |
| Cambridge, US | 27 |
| Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record | 27 |
| Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record | 24 |
| South Kensington, GB | 24 |
| Ciudad de México, MX | 23 |
| NSMKlocation not on record | 23 |
| CBDClocation not on record | 20 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 18 |
| Tuxtla Gutiérrez, MX | 17 |
| 16 | |
| Philadelphia, US | 16 |
| Paris, FR | 15 |
| INMAlocation not on record | 13 |
| Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatarlocation not on record | 13 |
| Philip L. Wright Zoological Museumlocation not on record | 12 |
| Los Angeles, US | 11 |
| Iowa City, US | 9 |
| Mexico City, MX | 9 |
| Natick, US | 9 |
| Bourges, FR | 8 |
| Tilburg, NL | 8 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 7 |
| Forssa, FI | 7 |
| Musée des Confluenceslocation not on record | 7 |
| Tromsø, NO | 7 |
| Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii Polskiej Akademii Nauklocation not on record | 6 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 6 |
| Edmonton, CA | 6 |
| Schenectady, US | 5 |
| Obihiro Centennial City Museumlocation not on record | 5 |
| Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record | 5 |
| National Museums of Kenyalocation not on record | 5 |
| Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallerylocation not on record | 5 |
| BG-NMNHSlocation not on record | 5 |
| Ohio Wesleyan University Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 5 |
| New Haven, US | 5 |
| San Nicolás de los Garza, MX | 5 |
| Ugentlocation not on record | 4 |
| Zografou, GR | 4 |
| Valparaiso, CL | 4 |
| Vancouver, CA | 4 |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 4 |
| San Luis Potosí, MX | 3 |
| Banyoles, ES | 3 |
| Sevilla, ES | 3 |
| Gothenburg, SE | 3 |
| Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology UB RASlocation not on record | 3 |
| University of Wisconsin, Zoological Museumlocation not on record | 3 |
| Museo de Zoología, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapaslocation not on record | 2 |
| Aves de Chile (UNORCH)location not on record | 2 |
| KU Leuvenlocation not on record | 2 |
| Rovaniemi, FI | 2 |
| University of Victorialocation not on record | 2 |
| Kristiansand, NO | 2 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 2 |
| Santa Cruz, US | 2 |
| DASSHlocation not on record | 2 |
| Tall Timbers Research Stationlocation not on record | 2 |
| Departamento de Sistematica e Ecologialocation not on record | 2 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 2 |
| CPMMlocation not on record | 1 |
| STOCKHOLM, SE | 1 |
| Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record | 1 |
| University of California Los Angeleslocation not on record | 1 |
| Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenadalocation not on record | 1 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 1 |
| Slovak National Museum, Natural History Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| CCBERlocation not on record | 1 |
| Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica A. C.location not on record | 1 |
| Facultad de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja Californialocation not on record | 1 |
| NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environmentlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Tennessee at Chattanoogalocation not on record | 1 |
| Instituto de Ecología Aplicada, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipaslocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Passer domesticus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.