 Pending wider-spread acceptance of species status, the red fox sparrow is currently classified as a "subspecies group" within fox sparrows.It has long been suspected to be a separate evolutionary lineage due to morphological distinctness, and this is confirmed by analysis of mtDNA sequence and haplotype data.This group appears to be most closely related to the slate-colored fox sparrows, but it is altogether likely to represent the basalmost divergence of the fox sparrow clade.