The fawn-breasted waxbill (''Estrilda paludicola'') is a common species of

estrildid finch Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family (taxonomy), family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. ...

found in central Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 1,800,000 km². ''Estrilda paludicola'', ''E. ochrogaster'' and ''E. poliopareia'' have been lumped into ''E. paludicola'' (Dowsett and Forbes-Watson 1993).

Taxonomy

The fawn-breasted waxbill was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1863 by the German explorer and ornithologist

Theodor von Heuglin Martin Theodor von Heuglin (20 March 1824, Hirschlanden, Württemberg5 November 1876), was a German explorer and ornithologist. Biography Heuglin was born in Hirschlanden (now part of Ditzingen) in Württemberg. His father was a Protestant past ...

from a specimen collected on the middle course of the

Bahr el Ghazal River The Bahr el Ghazal () or Naam River ( Nuer) is a river in South Sudan. The South Sudanese region of Bahr el Ghazal takes its name from the river. The Bahr el Ghazal is the main western tributary of the Nile. It is long, flowing through the Sud ...

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. He placed the species in the genus ''

Estrilda ''Estrilda'' is a genus of estrildid finch in the family Estrildidae. Most of the genus is found in Africa with one species, the Arabian waxbill, ranging into Asia. Some species are kept as pets and have introduced species, been accidentally in ...

'' (which he spelled as ''Estrelda'') and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Estrilda paludicola''. The specific epithet ''paludicola'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

meaning "marsh-dweller" (from ''palus'', ''paludis'' meaning "swamp" and ''-cola'' meaning "dweller"). Six

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''E. p. paludicola'' Heuglin, 1863 – east Central African Republic and north DR Congo to west Kenya * ''E. p. roseicrissa''

Reichenow Anton Reichenow (1 August 1847 in Charlottenburg – 6 July 1941 in Hamburg) was a German ornithologist and herpetologist. Reichenow was the son-in-law of Jean Cabanis, and worked at the Natural History Museum of Berlin from 1874 to 1921. He was ...

, 1892 – east DR Congo and southwest Uganda to northwest Tanzania * ''E. p. marwitzi'' Reichenow, 1900 – central south Tanzania * ''E. p. benguellensis''

Neumann Neumann () is a German language, German surname, with its origins in the pre-7th-century (Old English) word ''wikt:neowe, neowe'' meaning "new", with ''wikt:mann, mann'', meaning man. The English form of the name is Newman. Von Neumann is a varian ...

, 1908 – Angola, south DR Congo and Zambia * ''E. p. ruthae'' Chapin, 1950 – central DR Congo * ''E. p. ochrogaster'' Salvadori, 1897 – southeast Sudan and Ethiopia The subspecies ''E. p. ochrogaster'' has sometimes been considered as a separate species, the Abyssinian waxbill.

Distribution and habitat

The fawn-breasted waxbill is commonly found in subtropical/tropical (lowland) wet grassland habitats in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. However, it also inhabits dry forest and dry shrubland habitats. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has classified the species as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

BirdLife International species factsheet

fawn-breasted waxbill The fawn-breasted waxbill (''Estrilda paludicola'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in central Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 1,800,000 km2. ''Estrilda paludicola'', ''E. ochrogaster'' and ''E. poliop ...

Birds of Central Africa Birds of East Africa

Taxa named by Theodor von Heuglin {{Estrildidae-stub