Atlantic canary serin, and the two can produce on average 25% fertile hybrids if crossed. The phylogeny has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al. The bird is named after the Canary Islands, not the other way around. The islands' name is derived from the Latin name "canariae insulae" ("islands of dogs") used by Arnobius, referring to the large dogs kept by the inhabitants of the islands. A legend of the islands, however, states that it was the conquistadors who named the islands after a fierce tribe inhabiting the largest island of the group, known as the 'Canarii'. The colour canary yellow
Atlantic canary is in turn named after the yellow domestic canary, produced by a mutation which suppressed the melanins of the original dull-greenish wild Atlantic canary colour. It is endemic to the Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira in the region known as Macaronesia in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. In the Canary Islands, it is common on Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, but more local on Gran Canaria, and rare on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, where it has only recently begun breeding. It is common in Madeira including Porto Santo and the Desertas Islands, and has been recorded on the Salvage