Ploceus
Bocage's weaver (P. temporalis) and
Bertram's weaver (P. bertrandi) ♀
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Ploceidae
Genus: Ploceus
Cuvier, 1816
Type species
Loxia philippina[1]
Linnaeus, 1766
Species

See text

Synonyms[2]
  • Hyphanthurgus Sundevall, 1872
  • Hyphanturgus Cabanis, 1851
  • Nelicurvius Bonaparte, 1850
  • Nelicurvus Pollen, 1863
  • Notiospiza Oberholser, 1905
  • Othyphantes Shelley, 1896
  • Pachyphantes Shelley, 1896
  • Phormoplectes Reichenow, 1903
  • Ploceus victoriae Ash, 1986
  • Ploceys Billberg, 1828
  • Ploceëlla Oates, 1874
  • Plocion Merrem, 1826
  • Plocus Lafresnaye, 1835
  • Sharpia Barboza de Bocage, 1878
  • Simplectes Lesson, 1844
  • Sitagra Reichenbach, 1850
  • Sitagroides Roberts, 1947
  • Sycobrotus Cabanis, 1851
  • Symplectes Swainson, 1837
  • Textor Temminck, 1827
  • Thomasophantes Sclater, 1925
Ploceinae, 1st group
Black-breasted weaver
"true Ploceus"
Madagascar fody
(genus Foudia)
Red-billed quelea
(genus Quelea)
Southern red bishop
(genus Euplectes)
Ploceinae, 2nd group
Nelicourvi weaver
(genus Ploceus)
"reinstated Nelicurvius"
Cassin's malimbe
(genus Malimbus)
"extended Malimbus"
Red-headed weaver
(genus Anaplectes)
"extended Malimbus"
Southern masked weaver
(genus Ploceus)
"extended Malimbus"

Ploceus is a genus of birds in the weaver family, Ploceidae. They are native to the Indomalayan and Afrotropical realms.

Taxonomy and systematics

Phylogeny

The genus Ploceus was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816.[3] The type species was subsequently designated as the baya weaver.[4] The genus name is from Ancient Greek πλοκευς plokeus meaning "weaver", and is derived from the Greek word πλεκω plekō "to entwine".[5]

Based on recent DNA-analysis, the genus Ploceus is almost certainly polyphyletic. If all species currently included in the genus would remain and the genus would be made monophyletic, it would have to encompass the entire subfamily Ploceinae. The Ploceinae can be divided into two groups. In the first group, the widowbirds and bishops (genus Euplectes) are sister to a clade in which the genera Foudia and Quelea are closest relatives and which further includes the Asiatic species of Ploceus, i.e. P. manyar, P. philippinus, P. benghalensis, P. megarhynchus, (and P. hypoxanthus, although untested). Since Georges Cuvier picked P. philippinus as the type species, these five species would logically remain assigned to the genus Ploceus.

Basic to the second group is a clade consisting of both species so far included in Ploceus that live on Madagascar, P. nelicourvi and P. sakalava, and these are morphologically very distinct from the remaining species. These two species could in future be assigned to the genus Nelicurvius that was erected by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850, but which was merged with Ploceus later on. This second group further contains the genera Malimbus and Anaplectes, and all remaining Ploceus species. As Malimbus is the earlier name, erected by Vieillot et al. in 1805, the remaining species of Ploceus, as well as Anaplectes rubiceps, could in future be assigned to Malimbus.[6] These changes are largely corroborated by morphological revisions.[7][8] Provided that the other genera that have not been proposed to be merged into an extended "Malimbus" are monophyletic, the following (incomplete) tree expresses current insights.

subfamily Ploceinae
"true Ploceus"

P. megarhynchus

P. benghalensis

P. manyar

P. philippinus

genus Foudia

genus Quelea

genus Euplectes

"reinstated Nelicurvius"

P. nelicourvi

P. sakalava

"extended Malimbus"

Malimbus malimbicus

Malimbus nitens

Malimbus cassini

Malimbus racheliae

Anaplectes rubiceps

P. bicolor

Malimbus rubricollis

P. albinucha

P. insignis

P. olivaceiceps

P. xanthops

P. velatus

P. subaureus

P. nigricollis

P. ocularis

P. pelzelni

P. luteolus

P. melanogaster

P. alienus

P. vitellinus

P. rubiginosus

P. aurantius

P. bertrandi

P. baglafecht

P. nigerrimus

P. weynsi

P. cucullatus

P. castaneiceps

P. xanthopterus

P. heuglini

P. taeniopterus

P. melanocephalus

P. castanops

Species list

Speke's weaver (Ploceus spekei, below) and village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus subsp. nigriceps)

The genus contains 67 species.[9]

Image Common name Scientific name Distribution
Baglafecht weaver Ploceus baglafecht eastern and central Africa
Bannerman's weaver Ploceus bannermani Cameroon and Nigeria.
Bates's weaver Ploceus batesi Cameroon.
Black-chinned weaver Ploceus nigrimentus Bailundu Highlands of western Angola, on the Batéké Plateau in Republic of the Congo, and in eastern Gabon.
Bertram's weaver Ploceus bertrandi Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Slender-billed weaver Ploceus pelzelni western Africa.
Loango weaver Ploceus subpersonatus Angola, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon.
Little weaver Ploceus luteolus western, central and eastern Africa.
Spectacled weaver Ploceus ocularis central, eastern and south-eastern Africa
Black-necked weaver Ploceus nigricollis tropical Africa from Senegal and northern Angola to South Sudan and Tanzania.
Olive-naped weaver Ploceus brachypterus West Africa from Senegal and Gambia to Camaroon..
Strange weaver Ploceus alienus Albertine Rift montane forests.
Black-billed weaver Ploceus melanogaster central Africa.
Cape weaver Ploceus capensis southern Africa.
Bocage's weaver Ploceus temporalis Angola, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northwestern Zambia.
Eastern golden weaver Ploceus subaureus eastern and south-eastern Africa.
Holub's golden weaver Ploceus xanthops Gabon to Uganda and Kenya, south to northern Namibia, northern Botswana and eastern South Africa
Orange weaver Ploceus aurantius western and central Africa.
Heuglin's masked weaver Ploceus heuglini Senegal, Gambia and Mali to Ivory Coast and east to Uganda and western Kenya.
Golden palm weaver Ploceus bojeri eastern Africa.
Taveta weaver Ploceus castaneiceps African Savannah in Kenya and Tanzania.
Príncipe weaver Ploceus princeps São Tomé and Príncipe
Northern brown-throated weaver Ploceus castanops Uganda, Rwanda and adjacent northern Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Kenya and northwestern Tanzania.
Southern brown-throated weaver Ploceus xanthopterus southern Africa.
Ruvu weaver Ploceus holoxanthus eastern Africa.
Kilombero weaver Ploceus burnieri Tanzania.
Rüppell's weaver Ploceus galbula Sudan to Somalia and extreme northern Kenya.
Northern masked weaver Ploceus taeniopterus Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan.
Lesser masked weaver Ploceus intermedius eastern, south-eastern and southern Africa.
Southern masked weaver Ploceus velatus southern Africa.
Katanga masked weaver Ploceus katangae south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Zambia.
Lufira masked weaver Ploceus ruweti Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Tanzanian masked weaver Ploceus reichardi south-western Tanzania and north-eastern Zambia.
Vitelline masked weaver Ploceus vitellinus western, central and eastern Africa.
Speke's weaver Ploceus spekei northern and eastern Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and north-eastern Tanzania
Fox's weaver Ploceus spekeoides Uganda.
Village weaver Ploceus cucullatus Sub-Saharan Africa; introduced to Hispaniola, Dominica, Mauritius and Réunion.
Giant weaver Ploceus grandis São Tomé Island.
Chestnut-and-black weaver Ploceus castaneofuscus western and central Africa
Vieillot's black weaver Ploceus nigerrimus West Africa
Weyns's weaver Ploceus weynsi eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and north-western Tanzania.
Clarke's weaver Ploceus golandi Kenya.
Juba weaver Ploceus dichrocephalus Horn of Africa.
Black-headed weaver Ploceus melanocephalus West, Central, and East Africa
Golden-backed weaver Ploceus jacksoni Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Cinnamon weaver Ploceus badius Sudan and South Sudan
Chestnut weaver Ploceus rubiginosus eastern and south-western Africa.
Golden-naped weaver Ploceus aureonucha northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Yellow-mantled weaver Ploceus tricolor African tropical rainforest.
Maxwell's black weaver Ploceus albinucha African tropical rainforest.
Nelicourvi weaver Ploceus nelicourvi Madagascar
Sakalava weaver Ploceus sakalava Madagascar.
Asian golden weaver Ploceus hypoxanthus Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Compact weaver Ploceus superciliosus Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.
Black-breasted weaver Ploceus benghalensis South Asia
Streaked weaver Ploceus manyar Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam
Baya weaver Ploceus philippinus Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
Finn's weaver Ploceus megarhynchus India and Nepal
Dark-backed weaver Ploceus bicolor Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Preuss's weaver Ploceus preussi Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Yellow-capped weaver Ploceus dorsomaculatus Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon.
Olive-headed weaver Ploceus olivaceiceps Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Usambara weaver Ploceus nicolli Tanzania.
Brown-capped weaver Ploceus insignis Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Bar-winged weaver Ploceus angolensis Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
São Tomé weaver Ploceus sanctithomae São Tomé and Príncipe.
Yellow-legged weaver Ploceus flavipes Democratic Republic of the Congo.

References

  1. ^ "Ploceidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ "Ploceus". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  3. ^ Cuvier, Georges (1816). Le Règne animal distribué d'après son organisation : pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparée (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Déterville. p. 383.
  4. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1962). Check-list of birds of the world. Vol. 15. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 32.
  5. ^ Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  6. ^ De Silva, Thilina N.; Peterson, A. Townsend; Bates, John M.; Fernandoa, Sumudu W.; Girard, Matthew G. (2017). "Phylogenetic relationships of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae): A first robust phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 109: 21–32. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.013. PMID 28012957. S2CID 205841906.
  7. ^ Wolters, H.E. (1970). "On the generic classification of the weaver-birds of the Malimbus-Ploceus group" (PDF). Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society. 23: 369–391.
  8. ^ Del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D. (2010). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 15. Weavers to New World Warblers. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
  9. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "Old World sparrows, snowfinches, weavers". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 9 February 2024.

External links

Family: Ploceidae
Genera of finches, sparrows and tanagers
Taxon identifiers
Authority control databases: National
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