Pseudonigrita
↑Pseudonigrita arnaudi, ↓P. cabanisi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Ploceidae
Genus: Pseudonigrita
Reichenow, 1903
Type species
Nigrita arnaudi[1]
Bonaparte, 1850
Synonyms
  • Somalita

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:

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Pseudonigrita arnaudiGrey-capped social weaverEthiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda
Pseudonigrita cabanisiBlack-capped social weavercentral and southern Ethiopia, much of Kenya, a patch of Somalia

Taxonomy

French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte described the grey-capped social weaver as Nigrita arnaudi in 1850, based on a specimen collected by the French explorer Joseph Pons d'Arnaud around 1841 near Juba on the White Nile.[2] In 1884, the black-capped social weaver was first described by German East-Africa explorer Gustav Fischer and German ornithologist Anton Reichenow as Nigrita cabanisi, based on a specimen collected in 1883 by Fischer in the Pare Mountains. In 1903, Reichenow assigned both species to his newly erected genus Pseudonigrita, because he considered P. arnaudi and P. cabanisi related to weaverbirds (Ploceidae), while the other species Nigrita bicolor, N. canicapillus, N. fusconota and N. luteifrons are negrofinches assigned to the estrildid finches. In 1942, Hans von Boetticher was of the opinion that cabanisi was different enough to assign it to its own genus, and made the new combination Somalita cabanisi.[3][4]

Etymology

Pseudonigrita: Greek: ψευδος pseudos "false"; genus Nigrita Strickland, 1843[5]

Phylogeny

Based on recent DNA-analysis (which did not include P. cabanisi), the genus Pseudonigrita belongs to the group of sparrow weavers (subfamily Plocepasserinae), and is most related to Philetairus socius. This clade is sister to Plocepasser.[6] Provided that the sister relationship between the Pseudonigrita-species is correct, the following tree expresses current insights.

family Ploceidae
subfamily Amblyospizinae

Amblyospiza albifrons

subfamily Plocepasserinae

Sporopipes

Plocepasser

Philetairus socius

genus Pseudonigrita

P. cabanisi

P. arnaudi

subfamily Bubalornithinae

Dinemellia dinemelli

Bubalornis

subfamily Ploceinae

all other weaverbirds

References

  1. ↑ "Ploceidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ↑ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1850). Conspectus generum avium (in Latin). Vol. 1. Lugduni Batavorum: E.J. Brill. p. 444.
  3. ↑ "Zwartkapwever". vogelsbekijken.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2017-04-24. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
  4. ↑ Boetticher, Hans von (1942). "Der kleine Schwarzkopf-Sperlingsweber" (PDF). Verhandlungen der Ornithologischen Gesellschaft in Bayern. 22 (2): 207–210. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
  5. ↑ Jobling, J.A. (2017). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
  6. ↑ De Silva, Thilina N.; Peterson, A. Townsend; Bates, John M.; Fernandoa, Sumudu W.; Girard, Matthew G. (2017). "Phylogenetic relationships of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae): A first robust phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 109: 21–32. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.013. PMID 28012957. S2CID 205841906.


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