''Ploceus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of birds in the

weaver Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainmen ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, Ploceidae. They are native to the Indomalayan and

Afrotropical realm The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Phylogeny

The genus ''Ploceus'' was introduced by the French naturalist

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

in 1816. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

was subsequently designated as the

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

. The genus name is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

πλοκευς ''plokeus'' meaning "weaver", and is derived from the Greek word πλεκω ''plekō'' "to entwine". Based on recent DNA-analysis, the genus ''Ploceus'' is almost certainly

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

. 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 ''Euplectes'' is a genus of passerine bird in the Ploceidae, weaver family, Ploceidae, that contains the bishops and widowbirds. They are all native to Africa south of the Sahara. It is believed that all birds in the genus are probably polygyny i ...

'') 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

picked ''P. philippinus'' as the

, 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 Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal ...

in 1850, but which was merged with ''Ploceus'' later on. This second group further contains the genera ''

Malimbus ''Malimbus'' is a genus of birds in the family Ploceidae. It was erected by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1805. The genus contains the following ten species: References

Malimbus, Ploceidae Birds of the African ...

'' and ''

Anaplectes ''Anaplectes'' is a genus of African birds in the weaver family Ploceidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Anaplectes'' was introduced in 1863 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The type species was subsequently designated by Richard Bowdler Sha ...

'', 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''. These changes are largely corroborated by morphological revisions. 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.

Taxonomy and systematics

Phylogeny

Species list

References

External links