Violet-eared waxbill explained

The violet-eared waxbill or common grenadier (Granatina granatina) is a common species of estrildid finch found in drier land of Southern Africa.

Taxonomy

The violet-eared waxbill was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla granatina.^[1] Linnaeus took the specific epithet from the earlier description by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson who in 1760 had used the French name Le Grenadin and the Latin Granatinus, meaning "grenadier" in English.^{[2] [3]} Linnaeus mistakenly specified the locality as Brazil. This was an error originally introduced by the English naturalist George Edwards in 1743 who had believed that his specimen had come from Brazil.^[4] The locality was amended to Angola by William Lutley Sclater in 1930 and restricted to Huíla Province in Angola by Phillip Clancey in 1959.^{[5] [6] [7]} The violet-eared waxbill is now placed in the genus Granatina that was introduced in 1890 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe.^{[8] [9]} The species is treated as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.^[9]

Habitat

It is found in subtropical/ tropical (lowland) dry shrubland and savanna habitats in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

References

• BirdLife Species Factsheet

External links

• Violet-eared waxbill - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.

Notes and References

1. Book: Linnaeus, Carl . Carl Linnaeus . 1766 . Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . 12th . 1, Part 1 . Laurentii Salvii . Holmiae (Stockholm) . Latin . 319 .
2. Book: Brisson, Mathurin Jacques . Mathurin Jacques Brisson . 1760 . Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés . 3 . French, Latin . 216–218, Plate 9 fig. 3 . Paris . Jean-Baptiste Bauche .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 177 .
4. Book: Edwards, George . George Edwards (naturalist) . 1743 . A Natural History of Uncommon Birds . London . Printed for the author at the College of Physicians . Part IV . 191, Plate 191 .
5. Book: Sclater, William Lutley . William Lutley Sclater . 1930 . Systema Avium Aethiopicarum . Part 2 . London . Taylor and Francis . 806 .
6. Clancey. Phillip Alexander Clancey . Phillip Clancey . 1959 . Miscellaneous taxonomic notes on African birds XIV . Durban Museum Novitates . 5 . 18 . 231–259 [256] .
7. Book: Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1968 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 14 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 335 .
8. Book: Sharpe . R. Bowdler . Richard Bowdler Sharpe . 1890 . Catalogue of the Passeriformes or Perching Birds in the Collection of the British Museum. Sturnformes . 13 . Trustees of the British Museum . London . 403 . Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum .
9. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . July 2021 . Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits . IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 16 July 2021 .