Taxonomy and naming Red-billed quelea

etching george edwards published in 1760

the red-billed quelea 1 of many birds described linnaeus in landmark 1758 10th edition of systema naturae. classifying in bunting genus emberiza, gave binomial name of emberiza quelea. incorrectly mentioned originated in india, because ships east indies picked birds when visiting african coast during return voyage europe. had seen draft of ornithologia, sive synopsis methodica sistens avium divisionem in ordines, sectiones, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates, book written mathurin jacques brisson published in 1760, , contained black , white drawing of species. erroneous type locality of india corrected africa in 12th edition of systema naturae of 1766, , brisson cited. brisson mentions bird originates senegal, had been collected michel adanson during 1748-1752 expedition. called bird moineau bec rouge du senegal in french , passer senegalensis erythrorynchos in latin, both meaning red-billed senegalese sparrow . in 1766, george edwards illustrated species in colour, based on live male specimen owned mrs clayton in surrey. called brazilian sparrow , despite being unsure whether came brazil or angola. in 1850, ludwig reichenbach thought species not true bunting, rather weaver, , created genus name quelea, new combination q. quelea. white-faced morph described separate species, q. russii.

three subspecies recognised. in field, these distinguished differences in male breeding plumage.

the nominate subspecies, quelea quelea quelea, native west , central africa, has been recorded mauritania, western , northern senegal, gambia, central mali, burkina faso, southwestern , southern niger, northern nigeria, cameroon, south-central chad , northern central african republic.
loxia lathamii described andrew smith in 1836, later assigned q. quelea subspecies lathamii. ranges across central , southern africa, has been recorded southwestern gabon, southern congo, angola (except northeast , arid coastal southwest), southern democratic republic of congo , mouth of congo river, zambia, malawi , western mozambique across namibia (except coastal desert) , central, southern , eastern south africa.
ploceus aethiopicus described carl jakob sundevall in 1850, later assigned q. quelea subspecies aethiopica. found in eastern africa occurs in southern sudan, eastern south sudan, ethiopia , eritrea south northeastern parts of democratic republic of congo, uganda, kenya, central , eastern tanzania , northwestern , southern somalia.

formerly, 2 other subspecies have been described. q. quelea spoliator described phillip clancey in 1960 on basis of more greyish nonbreeding plumage of populations of wetter habitats of northeastern south africa, swaziland , southern mozambique. however, further analysis indicated no clear distinction in plumage between , q. quelea lathamii, no evidence of genetic isolation. hence not recognised distinct. q. quelea intermedia, described anton reichenow in 1886 east africa, regarded synonym of subspecies aethiopica.

etymology , vernacular names

linnaeus himself did not explain name quelea. quelea quelea locally called kwelea domo-jekundu in swahili, enzunge in kwangali, chimokoto in shona, inyonyane in siswati, thaha in sesotho , ndzheyana in tsonga language. m.w. jeffreys suggested term came medieval latin qualea, meaning quail , linking prodigious numbers of queleas hordes of quail fed israelites during exodus egypt.

the subspecies lathamii named in honor of ornithologist john latham. name of subspecies aethiopica refers ethiopia, , type collected in neighbouring sennar province in today s sudan.

red-billed quelea has been designated official name international ornithological committee (ioc). bird s name pronounced /ˈkwiliə/ in american english , /ˈkwiːlɪə/ in british english. other names in english include black-faced dioch, cardinal, common dioch, latham s weaver-bird, pink-billed weaver, quelea finch, quelea weaver, red-billed dioch, red-billed weaver, russ weaver, south-african dioch, sudan dioch , uganda dioch.

phylogeny

based on recent dna analysis, red-billed quelea sister group of clade contains both other remaining species of genus quelea, namely cardinal quelea (q. cardinalis) , red-headed quelea (q. erythrops). genus belongs group of true weavers (subfamily ploceinae), , closely related fodies (foudia), genus of 6 or 7 species occur on islands of western indian ocean. these 2 genera in turn sister clade asian species of genus ploceus. following tree represents current insight of relationships between species of quelea, , closest relatives.

interbreeding between red-billed , red-headed queleas has been observed in captivity.