Ploceus


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. The type species was subsequently designated as the baya weaver. The genus name is from Ancient Greek πλοκευς plokeus meaning "weaver", and is derived from the Greek word πλεκω plekō "to entwine".
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 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,. 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. These changes are largely corroborated by morphological revisions. Provided that the other genera that have not been proposed to be merged into an extended "Malimbus" are monophyletic, the following tree expresses current insights.

Species list

The genus contains 66 species.
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Baglafecht weaverPloceus baglafechthighlands of equatorial Africa
Bannerman's weaverPloceus bannermaniWestern High Plateau
Bates's weaverPloceus batesiCameroon.
Black-chinned weaverPloceus nigrimentusBailundu Highlands of western Angola, on the Batéké Plateau in Republic of the Congo, and in eastern Gabon.
Bertram's weaverPloceus bertrandiMalawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Slender-billed weaverPloceus pelzelniequatorial Africa
Loango weaverPloceus subpersonatusmaritime Central Africa
Little weaverPloceus luteoluswestern Sudan and East Africa
Spectacled weaverPloceus ocularisSub-Saharan Africa
Black-necked weaverPloceus nigricollisequatorial Africa
Olive-naped weaverPloceus brachypterusWest Africa
Strange weaverPloceus alienusAlbertine Rift montane forests.
Black-billed weaverPloceus melanogastercentral Africa.
Cape weaverPloceus capensissouthern Africa.
Bocage's weaverPloceus temporalisAngola, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northwestern Zambia.
Eastern golden weaverPloceus subaureushighlands of eastern and south-eastern Africa.
Holub's golden weaverPloceus xanthopsmiombo and adjacent areas
Orange weaverPloceus aurantiusAfrican tropical rainforest.
Heuglin's masked weaverPloceus heugliniSenegal, Gambia and Mali to Ivory Coast and east to Uganda and western Kenya.
Golden palm weaverPloceus bojerieastern Africa.
Taveta weaverPloceus castaneicepsAfrican Savannah in Kenya and Tanzania.
Príncipe weaverPloceus princepsSão Tomé and Príncipe
Northern brown-throated weaverPloceus castanopsUganda, Rwanda and adjacent northern Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Kenya and northwestern Tanzania.
Southern brown-throated weaverPloceus xanthopterussouthern Africa.
Ruvu weaverPloceus holoxanthusTanzania
Kilombero weaverPloceus burnieriTanzania
Rüppell's weaverPloceus galbulaeastern Africa and southwestern Arabian Peninsula
Northern masked weaverPloceus taeniopterusDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan.
Lesser masked weaverPloceus intermediuseastern, south-eastern and southern Africa.
Southern masked weaverPloceus velatussouthern Africa.
Katanga masked weaverPloceus katangaesouth-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Zambia.
Lufira masked weaverPloceus ruwetiDemocratic Republic of the Congo.
Tanzanian masked weaverPloceus reichardisouth-western Tanzania and north-eastern Zambia.
Vitelline masked weaverPloceus vitellinuswestern, central and eastern Africa.
Speke's weaverPloceus spekeinorthern and eastern Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and north-eastern Tanzania
Fox's weaverPloceus spekeoidesUganda.
Village weaverPloceus cucullatusSub-Saharan Africa; introduced to Hispaniola, Dominica, Mauritius and Réunion.
Giant weaverPloceus grandisSão Tomé Island.
Chestnut-and-black weaverPloceus castaneofuscusWest Africa
Vieillot's black weaverPloceus nigerrimusCentral Africa
Weyns's weaverPloceus weynsieastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and north-western Tanzania.
Kilifi weaverPloceus golandiKenya.
Juba weaverPloceus dichrocephalusHorn of Africa.
Black-headed weaverPloceus melanocephalusWest, Central, and East Africa
Golden-backed weaverPloceus jacksoniBurundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Cinnamon weaverPloceus badiusSudan and South Sudan
Chestnut weaverPloceus rubiginosuseastern and south-western Africa.
Golden-naped weaverPloceus aureonuchanortheastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Yellow-mantled weaverPloceus tricolorAfrican tropical rainforest.
Maxwell's black weaverPloceus albinuchaAfrican tropical rainforest.
Nelicourvi weaverPloceus nelicourviMadagascar
Sakalava weaverPloceus sakalavaMadagascar.
Asian golden weaverPloceus hypoxanthusCambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Black-breasted weaverPloceus benghalensisSouth Asia
Streaked weaverPloceus manyarBangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam
Baya weaverPloceus philippinusIndian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
Finn's weaverPloceus megarhynchusIndia and Nepal
Dark-backed weaverPloceus bicolorSub-Saharan Africa
Preuss's weaverPloceus preussiCameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Yellow-capped weaverPloceus dorsomaculatusCameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon.
Olive-headed weaverPloceus olivaceicepsMalawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Usambara weaverPloceus nicolliTanzania.
Brown-capped weaverPloceus insignisWestern High Plateau, Albertine Rift montane forests, Imatong Mountains and Kenya
Bar-winged weaverPloceus angolensisAngola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
São Tomé weaverPloceus sanctithomaeSão Tomé and Príncipe.
Yellow-legged weaverPloceus flavipesDemocratic Republic of the Congo.