Ploceus

The genus Ploceus was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816.{{ cite book | last=Cuvier | first=Georges | author-link=Georges Cuvier | year=1816 | title=Le Règne animal distribué d'après son organisation : pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparée | volume=1 | language=fr | place=Paris | publisher=Déterville | page=383 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1844893 }} The type species was subsequently designated as the baya weaver.{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1962 | title=Check-list of birds of the world | volume=15 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=32 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14485405 }} The genus name is from Ancient Greek πλοκευς plokeus meaning "weaver", and is derived from the Greek word πλεκω plekō "to entwine".{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title=Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/ploceus | access-date=5 May 2018 }}

Based on recent DNA-analysis, the genus Ploceus is almost certainly polyphyletic. 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 type species, 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 and Anaplectes, 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.{{cite journal|first1= Thilina N.|last1= De Silva |first2= A. Townsend|last2= Peterson|first3= John M.|last3= Bates|first4= Sumudu W.|last4= Fernandoa|first5= Matthew G.|last5= Girard |year= 2017|title= Phylogenetic relationships of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae): A first robust phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers|journal= Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume= 109 |pages= 21–32 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.013|pmid= 28012957 |bibcode= 2017MolPE.109...21D |s2cid= 205841906 }} These changes are largely corroborated by morphological revisions.{{cite journal|first= H.E.|last= Wolters|year= 1970 |title= On the generic classification of the weaver-birds of the Malimbus-Ploceus group|journal= Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society|volume= 23 |pages= 369–391|url= http://www.siamese-heritage.org/nhbsspdf/vol021-030/NHBSS_023_3p_Wolters_OnTheGenericC.pdf}}{{cite book |first1= J. |last1= Del Hoyo|first2= A.|last2= Elliott|first3= D.|last3= Christie|title= Handbook of the Birds of the World |volume= 15. Weavers to New World Warblers|publisher= Lynx Edicions|location= Barcelona|year= 2010}} 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.

{{clade|style= font-size:100%;line-height:120%

|label1=subfamily Ploceinae

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|label1= "true Ploceus"

|1={{clade

|1=P. megarhynchus

|2={{clade

|1=P. benghalensis

|2={{clade

|1=P. manyar

|2=P. philippinus

}}

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1= genus Foudia

|2= genus Quelea

}}

}}

|2=genus Euplectes

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|label1="reinstated Nelicurvius"

|1={{clade

|1=P. nelicourvi

|2=P. sakalava

}}

|label2= "extended Malimbus"

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Malimbus malimbicus

|2=Malimbus nitens

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Malimbus cassini

|2=Malimbus racheliae

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Anaplectes rubiceps

|2=P. bicolor

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Malimbus rubricollis

|2=P. albinucha

}}

|2={{clade

|1=P. insignis

|2=P. olivaceiceps

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=P. xanthops

|2={{clade

|1=P. velatus

|2=P. subaureus

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1=P. nigricollis

|2={{clade

|1=P. ocularis

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=P. pelzelni

|2=P. luteolus

}}

|2={{clade

|1=P. melanogaster

|2=P. alienus

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1=P. vitellinus

|2={{clade

|1=P. rubiginosus

|2={{clade

|1=P. aurantius

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=P. bertrandi

|2=P. baglafecht

}}

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=P. nigerrimus

|2=P. weynsi

}}

|2={{clade

|1=P. cucullatus

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=P. castaneiceps

|2=P. xanthopterus

}}

|2={{clade

|1=P. heuglini

|2={{clade

|1=P. taeniopterus

|2=P. melanocephalus

|3=P. castanops

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

File:The birds of Africa, comprising all the species which occur in the Ethiopian region (1896) (14745658961).jpg, below) and village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus subsp. nigriceps)]]

The genus contains 67 species.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=Old World sparrows, snowfinches, weavers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/weavers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=9 February 2024 }}

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• {{Commons category-inline|Ploceus|Ploceus}}
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Category:Ploceidae

Category:Bird genera

Category:Taxa named by Georges Cuvier