| Black-necked weaver | |
|---|---|
| |
| Conservation status | |
 Least Concern (IUCN 3.1) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Ploceidae |
| Genus: | Ploceus |
| Species: | P. nigricollis |
| Binomial name | |
| Ploceus nigricollis (Vieillot, 1805) | |
The black-necked weaver (Ploceus nigricollis) is a resident breeding bird species in much of central Africa from Cameroon in the west to Kenya and southern Somalia in the east.
Taxonomy and systematics
The species was formally described in 1805 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot, who named it Malimbus nigricollis. The description was based on a specimen that had been collected near Malimbe, now Malembo, in the Cabinda Province of Angola. The species epithet nigricollis combines the Latin words Latin words, niger meaning "black" and collis meaning "necked".
Subspecies
There are two subspecies recognized:
- P. n. nigricollis – (Vieillot, 1805): Found from eastern Cameroon to southern Sudan, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania, southern Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. Also on the island of on Bioko
- P. n. melanoxanthus – (Cabanis, 1878): Found from southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia to central and eastern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania
The black-necked weaver was formerly considered to be conspecific with the olive-naped weaver. The two species differ in plumage and in the colour of the iris. A molecular study published in 2019 found that the two species are genetically very similar.
Description
The black-necked weaver is a stocky 16 cm bird with a strong conical bill. The adult male of the northern race has olive upper-parts and wings, and yellow underparts and head. It has a black eye-mask and bib, and a pale yellow iris. The non-breeding male has a yellow head with an olive crown, grey upper-parts and whitish. The wings remain yellow and black.
The adult female also has olive upper-parts and wings, and yellow underparts and head. It has a black eyemask but no bib.
The southern race found from Nigeria eastwards has a quite different appearance, with almost black upper-parts and tail.
The black-necked weaver feeds on insects and vegetable matter. The calls of this bird include a wheezing dew-dew-twee .
Distribution and habitat
This weaver occurs in forests, especially in wet habitats.
Behaviour and ecology
It builds a large coarsely woven nest made of grass and creepers with a 15 cm downward facing entrance tunnel hanging from the globular egg chamber. The nest is suspended from a branch in a tree and 2-3 eggs are laid. It nests in pairs but forms small flocks when not breeding.
References
- BirdLife International (2017). "Ploceus nigricollis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T103811662A119722313. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T103811662A119722313.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1805). Histoire naturelle des plus beaux oiseaux chanteurs de la zone torride (in French). Paris: Chez J.E. Gabriel Dufour. p. 74; Plate XLV.
- "Black-necked Weaver Ploceus nigricollis". Weaver Watch. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Old World sparrows, snowfinches, weavers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- Kirwan, G.M.; Craig, A.J.F.; del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. (2022). Billerman, S.M.; Sly, N.D. (eds.). "Olive-naped Weaver (Ploceus brachypterus), version 1.0". Birds of the World. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.bknwea1.01.
- De Silva, T.N.; Peterson, A.T.; Perktas, U. (2019). "An extensive molecular phylogeny of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae) unveils broad nonmonophyly of traditional genera and new relationships". The Auk. 136 (ukz041). doi:10.1093/auk/ukz041.
- Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1
External links
- Black-necked weaver – Species text in Weaver Watch.