Ploceidae
Family of small passerine birds
title: "Ploceidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ploceidae", "bird-families", "birds-of-sub-saharan-africa"] description: "Family of small passerine birds" topic_path: "general/ploceidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploceidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Family of small passerine birds ::
| name = Weavers | image = Black-headed weaver (Ploceus cucullatus bohndorffi) male nest building.jpg | image_upright = 1.2 | image_caption = A male village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus bohndorffi), building his nest | taxon = Ploceidae | authority = Sundevall, 1836 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = See text. | type_genus =Ploceus
Ploceidae is a family of small passerine birds, many of which are called weavers, weaverbirds, weaver finches, or bishops. These names come from the nests of intricately woven vegetation created by birds in this family. In most recent classifications, the Ploceidae are a clade that 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. All birds of the Ploceidae are native to the Old World, 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 Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1836. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the family is sister to a clade containing the families Viduidae and Estrildidae Their common ancestor lived in the middle Miocene around 18 million years ago.
A 2017 molecular phylogenetic study by Thilina de Silva and collaborators, as well as an expanded study by the same group published in 2019 have indicated that the genus Ploceus as currently defined is polyphyletic. A cladogram based on these results is shown below. |label1=Ploceidae |1={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=Amblyospiza – thick-billed weaver |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Sporopipes – 2 species (weavers) |2={{clade |1=Plocepasser – 4 species (sparrow-weavers) |2={{clade |1=Philetairus – sociable weaver |2=Pseudonigrita – 2 species (social weavers) |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Dinemellia – white-headed buffalo weaver |2=Bubalornis – 2 species (buffalo weavers) |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Euplectes – 18 species (bishops and widowbirds) |2={{clade |1=Ploceus – 5 species (Asian weavers) |2={{clade |1=Quelea – 3 species (queleas) |2={{clade |1=Pachyphantes – compact weaver |2=Foudia – 8 species (fodies) |2={{clade |1=Ploceus – 2 species (Sakalava weaver and Nelicourvi weaver) |2=Ploceus+Malimbus+Anaplectes – 60 + 10 + 2 = 72 species
Genera
The family includes 16 genera with a total of 122 species. For more detail, see list of Ploceidae species. ::data[format=table]
| Image | Genus | Species |
|---|---|---|
| [[File:Red-billed Buffalo Weaver.jpg | 175px]] | Bubalornis A. Smith, 1836 |
| [[File:Dinemellia dinemelli.jpg | 175px]] | Dinemellia Reichenbach, 1863 |
| [[File:Plocepasser mahali -Baringo Lake, Kenya -male-8.jpg | 175px]] | Plocepasser A. Smith, 1836 |
| [[File:Weaver bird.jpg | 175px]] | Histurgops Reichenow, 1887 |
| [[File:Black-capped Social-Weaver - Samburu - Kenya S4E5139 (22836895922).jpg | 175px]] | Pseudonigrita Reichenow, 1903 |
| [[File:Sociable weaver (Philetairus socius).jpg | 175px]] | Philetairus A. Smith, 1837 |
| [[File:Speckle-fronted Weaver RWD4.jpg | 175px]] | Sporopipes Cabanis, 1847 |
| [[File:Amblyospiza albifrons, w, vreet netel-dopvrugte, a, Skeerpoort.jpg | 175px]] | Amblyospiza Sundevall, 1850 |
| [[File:Black-headed weaver (Ploceus cucullatus bohndorffi) male.jpg | 175px]] | Ploceus Cuvier, 1816 |
| [[File:Compact Weaver - Kibale - Uganda 06 4363 (22432186368).jpg | 175px]] | Pachyphantes Shelley, 1896 |
| [[File:Crested Malimbe - Kakum - Ghana S4E1412 (22229307983).jpg | 175px]] | Malimbus Vieillot, 1805 |
| [[File:Quelea erythrops -South Africa -building nest-8.jpg | 175px]] | Quelea Reichenbach, 1850 |
| [[File:Red-headed Weaver male RWD.jpg | 175px]] | Anaplectes Reichenbach, 1863 |
| [[File:Madagascar fody (Foudia madagascariensis).jpg | 175px]] | Foudia Reichenbach, 1850 |
| Brachycope Reichenow, 1900 | ||
| [[File:Euplectes progne male South Africa cropped.jpg | 175px]] | Euplectes Swainson, 1829 |
| :: |
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 weavers of Africa 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, 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 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 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 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 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 at nest concealed in thorny Senegalia 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 nests suspended from a palm tree, West Africa File:Tisserin Etosha.jpg|A southern masked weaver 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
References
- (2017). "Phylogenetic relationships of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae): A first robust phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
- Craig, Adrian J.F.K.. (2010). "Handbook of the Birds of the World". Lynx Edicions.
- Bock, Walter J.. (1994). "History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names". American Museum of Natural History.
- Sundevall, Carl Jakob. (1836). "Ornithologiskt system". Kongliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar.
- (1 July 2019). "An extensive molecular phylogeny of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae) unveils broad nonmonophyly of traditional genera and new relationships". The Auk.
- (2019). "Earth history and the passerine superradiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
- (2017). "Phylogenetic relationships of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae): A first robust phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
- (2019). "An extensive molecular phylogeny of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae) unveils broad nonmonophyly of traditional genera and new relationships". The Auk.
- AviList Core Team. (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025".
- (3 April 2008). "Cooperative breeding in a population of White-browed Weavers ''Plocepasser mahali''.". Ibis.
- Fry, C.H. & Keith, S. (2004) The birds of Africa vol. VII. Christopher Helm, London
- BirdLife International. (2018). "''Quelea quelea''".
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