Ploceidae

Male red fody Foudia madagascariensis, copyright Spacebirdy.

Belongs within: Passeroidea.
Contains: Malimbus, Ploceus, Euplectes.

The Ploceidae, weavers, are a group of granivorous birds found in Africa and southern Asia. Many species nest communally, with nests placed close together or sometimes conjoined into large unified structures that may house hundreds of birds.

<==Ploceidae [Alectuinae, Bubalornithinae, Ploceinae, Plocepasserinae, Textorinae]
    |  i. s.: Pyromelana orix A61
    |         Hyphanturgus ocularis A61
    |         Anaplectes rubriceps JT12
    |         Brachycope anomala JT12
    |         Malimbus JF06
    |--+--Ploceus BKB15
    |  `--+--‘Euplectes’ afer JT12
    |     `--+--‘Euplectes’ ardens BKB15 [=Ploceus ardens S05]
    |        |    |--E. a. ardens S05
    |        |    `--E. a. laticauda (Lichtenstein 1823) (see below for synonymy) S05
    |        `--‘Euplectes’ hordeaceus BKB15
    `--+--Amblyospiza Sundevall 1850 BKB15, B94 [Amblyospizinae]
       |    `--A. albifrons FP64
       `--+--+--+--‘Ploceus’ hypoxanthus JT12
          |  |  `--+--‘Ploceus’ manyar JT12
          |  |     `--‘Ploceus’ philippinus JT12
          |  `--+--Philetairus Smith 1837 BKB15, B94 [Philetairinae]
          |     |    `--P. socius JF06
          |     `--Plocepasser Smith 1836 JT12, B94
          |          |--P. donaldsoni JT12
          |          |--P. mahali JF06
          |          |    |--P. m. mahali S05
          |          |    `--P. m. melanorhynchus Rüppell 1845 S05
          |          |--P. rufoscapulatus JT12
          |          `--P. superciliosus (Cretzschmar 1827) [=Ploceus superciliosus] S05
          `--+--+--Dinemellia dinemelli (Rüppell 1845) BKB15, S05 (see below for synonymy)
             |  `--Bubalornis Smith 1836 BKB15, B94 [incl. Alecto Lesson 1831 non Leach 1815 B94]
             |       |--B. albirostris FP64
             |       `--B. niger JT12
             `--+--Sporopipes Cabanis 1847 BKB15, B94 [Sporopipinae]
                |    |--S. frontalis JF06
                |    `--S. squamifrons JF06
                `--+--+--+--‘Ploceus’ luteolus BKB15
                   |  |  `--‘Ploceus’ velatus BKB15 [incl. P. velatus inustus Clancey 1959 B93]
                   |  `--+--‘Ploceus’ intermedius Rüppell 1845 BKB15, S05
                   |     `--+--‘Ploceus’ melanocephalus JT12
                   |        |    |--P. m. melanocephalus L81
                   |        |    `--P. m. capitalis L81
                   |        `--‘Ploceus’ taeniopterus JT12
                   `--+--+--Quelea JT12
                      |  |    |--Q. cardinalis JF06
                      |  |    |--Q. erythrops JT12
                      |  |    `--Q. quelea JF06
                      |  `--Foudia JT12
                      |       |--F. bruante FP64
                      |       |--F. eminentissima S66
                      |       |--F. erythrops D66
                      |       |--F. flavicans JT12 [=Ploceus flavicans S66]
                      |       |--F. madagascariensis L81
                      |       |--F. omissa JT12
                      |       |--F. rubra JT12
                      |       `--F. sechellarum L81
                      `--Euplectes JT12

Dinemellia dinemelli (Rüppell 1845) BKB15, S05 [=Textor dinemelli S05; incl. T. leucocephalus Rüppell 1845 S05, Ploceuspasser leucocephalus S05]

‘Euplectes’ ardens laticauda (Lichtenstein 1823) [incl. Fringilla rufitorques ms, Coliuspasser torquatus Rüppell 1840] S05

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Austin, O. L., Jr. 1961. Birds of the World: A survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families. Paul Hamlyn: London.

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[B93] Brooke, R. K. 1993. Annotated catalogue of the Aves type specimens in the South African Museum. Annals of the South African Museum 102 (10): 327–349.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[D66] Dohrn, H. 1866. Synopsis of the birds of Ilha do Principe, with some remarks on their habits and descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 324–332.

[FP64] Fisher, J., & R. T. Peterson. 1964. The World of Birds: A comprehensive guide to general ornithology. Macdonald: London.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[JF06] Jønsson, K. A., & J. Fjeldså. 2006. A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds. Zoologica Scripta 35: 149–186.

[L81] Long, J. L. 1981. Introduced Birds of the World: The worldwide history, distribution and influence of birds introduced to new environments. Reed: Sydney.

[S66] Schlegel, H. 1866. Communication from, on mammals and birds collected in Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 419–426.

[S05] Steinheimer, F. D. 2005. Eduard Rüppel’s avian types at the Natural History Museum, Tring (Aves). Senckenbergiana Biologica 85 (2): 233–264.