According to a 1999 study, the vegetarian finch is genetically no more similar to the tree finches than it is to the ground finches, despite the fact that it is placed in the same genus as the tree finches. Based on this finding, it is reasonable to conclude that the vegetarian finch:.
A. is a hybrid species, resulting from a cross between a ground finch and a tree finch.
B. should be re-classified as a warbler finch.
C. is no more closely related to the tree finches than it is to the ground finches, despite its classification.
D. is not truly a descendent of the original ancestral finch.