The Slaty Finch Spodiornis rusticus is now known to form a clade with certain other small plain gray or brown finches that occur mainly in bamboo (Burns et al. 2014; Barker et al. 2015), but relationships are not yet well-supported and nomenclatural issues suggest caution. For alignment with e.g., NACC and Gill and Wright (2006, IOC v.1.0), the scientific name becomes Haplospiza rustica.