''Ploceus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of birds in the weaver

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

, Ploceidae. They are native to the

Indomalayan The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

and Afrotropical realms.

Taxonomy and systematics

Phylogeny

The genus ''Ploceus'' was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816. The

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specime ...

was subsequently designated as the

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 ...

. The genus name is from

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

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 of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

. 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

, 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 ''Malimbus'' is a genus of birds in the family Ploceidae. It was erected by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1805. The genus contains the following ten species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classificat ...

'' 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 Shar ...

'', 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.

Species list

The genus contains 65 species.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1093619 Ploceidae Bird genera Taxa named by Georges Cuvier