Ploceus is a genus of birds in the weaver family, Ploceidae. They are native to the Indomalayan and Afrotropical realms.
The genus Ploceus was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816.[1] The type species was subsequently designated as the baya weaver.[2] The genus name is from Ancient Greek πλοκευς plokeus meaning "weaver", and is derived from the Greek word πλεκω plekō "to entwine".[3]
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.[4] These changes are largely corroborated by morphological revisions.[5] [6] 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.
The genus contains 67 species.[7]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ploceus baglafecht | eastern and central Africa | ||
| Ploceus bannermani | Cameroon and Nigeria. | ||
| Ploceus batesi | Cameroon. | ||
| Ploceus nigrimentus | Bailundu Highlands of western Angola, on the Batéké Plateau in Republic of the Congo, and in eastern Gabon. | ||
| Ploceus bertrandi | Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. | ||
| Ploceus pelzelni | western Africa. | ||
| Ploceus subpersonatus | Angola, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. | ||
| Ploceus luteolus | western, central and eastern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus ocularis | central, eastern and south-eastern Africa | ||
| Ploceus nigricollis | tropical Africa from Senegal and northern Angola to South Sudan and Tanzania. | ||
| Ploceus brachypterus | West Africa from Senegal and Gambia to Camaroon.. | ||
| Ploceus alienus | Albertine Rift montane forests. | ||
| Ploceus melanogaster | central Africa. | ||
| Ploceus capensis | southern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus temporalis | Angola, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northwestern Zambia. | ||
| Ploceus subaureus | eastern and south-eastern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus xanthops | Gabon to Uganda and Kenya, south to northern Namibia, northern Botswana and eastern South Africa | ||
| Ploceus aurantius | western and central Africa. | ||
| Ploceus heuglini | Senegal, Gambia and Mali to Ivory Coast and east to Uganda and western Kenya. | ||
| Ploceus bojeri | eastern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus castaneiceps | African Savannah in Kenya and Tanzania. | ||
| Ploceus princeps | São Tomé and Príncipe | ||
| Ploceus castanops | Uganda, Rwanda and adjacent northern Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Kenya and northwestern Tanzania. | ||
| Ploceus xanthopterus | southern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus holoxanthus | eastern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus burnieri | Tanzania. | ||
| Ploceus galbula | Sudan to Somalia and extreme northern Kenya. | ||
| Ploceus taeniopterus | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan. | ||
| Ploceus intermedius | eastern, south-eastern and southern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus velatus | southern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus katangae | south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Zambia. | ||
| Ploceus ruweti | Democratic Republic of the Congo. | ||
| Ploceus reichardi | south-western Tanzania and north-eastern Zambia. | ||
| Ploceus vitellinus | western, central and eastern Africa. | ||
| Ploceus spekei | northern and eastern Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and north-eastern Tanzania | ||
| Ploceus spekeoides | Uganda. | ||
| Ploceus cucullatus | Sub-Saharan Africa; introduced to Hispaniola, Dominica, Mauritius and Réunion. | ||
| Ploceus grandis | São Tomé Island. | ||
| Ploceus castaneofuscus | western and central Africa | ||
| Ploceus nigerrimus | West Africa | ||
| Ploceus weynsi | eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and north-western Tanzania. | ||
| Ploceus golandi | Kenya. | ||
| Ploceus dichrocephalus | Horn of Africa. | ||
| Ploceus melanocephalus | West, Central, and East Africa | ||
| Ploceus jacksoni | Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. | ||
| Ploceus badius | Sudan and South Sudan | ||
| Ploceus rubiginosus | eastern and south-western Africa. | ||
| Ploceus aureonucha | northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. | ||
| Ploceus tricolor | African tropical rainforest. | ||
| Ploceus albinucha | African tropical rainforest. | ||
| Ploceus nelicourvi | Madagascar | ||
| Ploceus sakalava | Madagascar. | ||
| Ploceus hypoxanthus | Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. | ||
| 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. | ||
| Ploceus benghalensis | South Asia | ||
| Ploceus manyar | Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam | ||
| Ploceus philippinus | Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. | ||
| Ploceus megarhynchus | India and Nepal | ||
| 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. | ||
| Ploceus preussi | Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. | ||
| Ploceus dorsomaculatus | Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. | ||
| Ploceus olivaceiceps | Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. | ||
| Ploceus nicolli | Tanzania. | ||
| Ploceus insignis | Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. | ||
| Ploceus angolensis | Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. | ||
| Ploceus sanctithomae | São Tomé and Príncipe. | ||
| Ploceus flavipes | Democratic Republic of the Congo. | ||