Ploceidae is a family of small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s, many of which are called weavers, weaverbirds, weaver finches and bishops. These names come from the nests of intricately woven vegetation created by birds in this family. In most recent classifications, Ploceidae is a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

, which excludes some birds that have historically been placed in the family, such as some of the sparrows, but which includes the monotypic subfamily Amblyospizinae. The family is believed to have originated in the mid-

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

. All birds of the Ploceidae are native to the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

, most in Africa south of the Sahara, though a few live in tropical areas of Asia. A few species have been introduced outside their native range.

Taxonomy and systematics

The family Ploceidae was introduced (as Ploceïdes) by the Swedish zoologist

Carl Jakob Sundevall Carl Jakob Sundevall (22 October 1801, Högestad – 2 February 1875) was a Swedish zoologist. Sundevall studied at Lund University, where he became a Ph.D. in 1823. After traveling to East Asia, he studied medicine, graduating as Doctor of Med ...

in 1836. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the family is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

to a clade containing the families

Viduidae __NOTOC__ The indigobirds and whydahs, together with the cuckoo-finch, make up the family Viduidae; they are small passerine birds native to Africa. These are finch-like species which usually have black or indigo predominating in their plumage ...

and

Estrildidae Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. Despite the word "fi ...

Their common ancestor lived in the middle

around 18 million years ago.

Genera

The family includes 15 genera with a total of 118 species. For more detail, see

list of Ploceidae species Weavers, widowbirds, and allies form the family Ploceidae. The International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ...

Description

The males of many species in this family are brightly coloured, usually in red or yellow and black. Some species show variation in colour only in the breeding season. These are seed-eating birds with rounded conical bills.

Distribution and habitat

The weaverbird colonies may be found close to bodies of water.

Behaviour and ecology

Weavers are named for their elaborately woven nests. The nests vary in size, shape, material used, and construction techniques from species to species. Materials used for building nests include fine leaf fibers, grass, and twigs. Many species weave very fine nests using thin strands of leaf fiber, though some, like the buffalo-weavers, form massive untidy stick nests in their colonies, which may have spherical woven nests within. The

sociable weaver The sociable weaver (''Philetairus socius'') is a species of bird in the weaver family that is endemic to southern Africa. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Philetairus''. It is found in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. but th ...

s of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

build apartment-house nests, in which 100 to 300 pairs have separate flask-shaped chambers entered by tubes at the bottom. The sparrow weavers live in family units that employ cooperative breeding. Most species weave nests that have narrow entrances, facing downward. Many weaver species are gregarious and breed colonially. The birds build their nests together for protection, often several to a branch. Usually the male birds weave the nests and use them as a form of display to lure prospective females.

Relationship to humans

They sometimes cause crop damage, notably the

red-billed quelea The red-billed quelea (; ''Quelea quelea''), also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small—approximately long and weighing —migratory, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to Sub-Saharan Africa. ...

, reputed to be the world's most numerous bird.

Gallery

File:Under Construction - Weaver Bird.jpg, A nest in the early stages of construction File:Weaverbirds at West Bengal.jpg, Weaverbirds at

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

File:Sporopipes squamifrons 1838.jpg, Adult '' Sporopipes'' at its spherical grass nest, placed in a shrub File:Nids de Plocepasser mahali (Namibie) (3).jpg, ''

Plocepasser The sparrow-weavers (''Plocepasser'') are a genus of birds in the family Ploceidae (weavers), but some taxonomic authorities place them in the family Passeridae (Old World sparrows). Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Plocepasser'' contains ...

'' nest in Namibia, for year-round occupation. File:2010-09-25 09-03-47 Namibia Hardap Isabis.jpg, Communal '' Philetairus'' nests in central Namibia File:Pseudonigrita-arnaudi-Nest.JPG, ''

Pseudonigrita ''Pseudonigrita'' is a genus of sparrow-like birds in the weaverbird family. Extant Species It contains two species, which are both found in eastern Africa: Taxonomy French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte described the grey-capped soci ...

'' nest in Kenya, with entrance below File:Black-breasted Weaver Ploceus benghalensis by Dr. Raju Kasambe 03.jpg, Black-breasted weaver nest suspended from grass, India File:Ploceidae.jpg, A

baya weaver The baya weaver (''Ploceus philippinus'') is a weaverbird found across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. of these birds are found in grasslands, cultivated areas, scrub and secondary growth and they are best known for their hanging ret ...

on his unfinished nest, northern India File:Nests_in_Palmyra_Palm_tree.jpg, Nests of a baya weaver colony suspended from a palm tree, India File:Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) (6041539514).jpg, Male ''

Quelea ''Quelea'' is a genus of small passerine birds that belongs to the weaver family Ploceidae, confined to Africa. These are small-sized, sparrow- or finch-like gregarious birds, with bills adapted to eating seeds. Queleas may be nomadic over vas ...

'' at nest concealed in thorny ''

Senegalia ''Senegalia'' (from Senegal and ''Acacia senegal'' (L.) Willd.) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the Mimosoid clade. Until 2005, its species were considered members of ''Acacia.'' The genus was considered poly ...

'' shrub File:Euplectes orix -Pretoria, South Africa -male weaving nest-8 (1).jpg, Red bishop constructing a nest in reeds, South Africa File:Weaver bird nests at Ifaty (3445328641).jpg, Nests of a colony of Sakalava weavers, Madagascar File:GambiaGeorgeTown043 (12249665914).jpg, Spherical

village weaver The village weaver (''Ploceus cucullatus''), also known as the spotted-backed weaver or black-headed weaver (the latter leading to easy confusion with '' P. melanocephalus''), is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae found in much of sub-Sa ...

nests suspended from a palm tree, West Africa File:Tisserin Etosha.jpg, A

southern masked weaver The southern masked weaver (''Ploceus velatus''), or African masked weaver, is a resident breeding bird species common throughout southern Africa. This weaver is very widespread and found in a wide range of habitats, including shrubland, savan ...

building his nest, Namibia File:ASC Leiden - van de Bruinhorst Collection - Somaliland 2019 - 4530 - A detail of the nest of weaver birds hanging from a tree.jpg, Hanging nest, Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 2019.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Bird families