The lesser masked weaver (''Ploceus intermedius'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Ploceidae Ploceidae is a family of small passerine birds, many of which are called weavers, weaverbirds, weaver finches and bishops. These names come from the nests of intricately woven vegetation created by birds in this family. In most recent classifica ...

. It builds its nests in large colonies, often alongside the

village weaver The village weaver (''Ploceus cucullatus''), also known as the spotted-backed weaver or black-headed weaver (the latter leading to easy confusion with '' P. melanocephalus''), is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae found in much of sub-S ...

and sometimes the

red-billed buffalo weaver The red-billed buffalo weaver (''Bubalornis niger'') is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is found in eastern and southern Africa. Its natural habitat is the dry savanna. Description The body length of full grown red-billed buffalo w ...

. This species is commonly parasitised by the

Diederik cuckoo The diederik cuckoo (''Chrysococcyx caprius''), formerly dideric cuckoo or didric cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners and the anis. Taxonomy The diederik cuckoo was described ...

. It is found in eastern, south-eastern and southern Africa.

Taxonomy and systematics

There are two subspecies: * ''P. i. intermedius'' Rüppell, 1845 – From Djibouti to central Tanzania * ''P. i. cabanisii'' (W. K. H. Peters, 1868) – African west coast and southern Africa ::Synonyms are ''P. i. beattyi'' in Angola and ''P. i. luebberti'' in Namibia

References

External links

Lesser masked weaver
- Species text in Weaver Watch. * Lesser masked weaver
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
lesser masked weaver Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa lesser masked weaver Birds of East Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Ploceidae-stub