 The painted finch is within the genus "Emblema" which early studies placed four species inside of.More recent research has since determined that this genus did not form a natural assemblage and three of the four species were segregated into the genus "Stagonopleura".The species include "S. bella" (Beautiful firetail), "S. oculata" (Red-eared firetail) and "S. guttata" (Diamond firetail).