 In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the red fody in his "Ornithologie" based on a specimen collected in Madagascar.He used the French name "Le cardinal de Madagascar" and the Latin "Cardinalis Madagascariensis".Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.