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''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:


Taxonomy

French naturalist
Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career ...
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. In 1884, the black-capped social weaver was first described by German East-Africa explorer Gustav Fischer and German ornithologist
Anton 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 wa ...
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 The chestnut-breasted nigrita (''Nigrita bicolor'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 3,000,000 km2. Habitat left, In Kakum National Park, Ghana The chestnut-breast ...
'', '' 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''.


Etymology

''Pseudonigrita'': gr, ψευδος ''pseudos'' “false”; genus '' Nigrita'' Strickland, 1843


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 The sociable weaver (''Philetairus socius'') is a species of bird in the weaver family that is endemic to southern Africa. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Philetairus''. It is found in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. but th ...
''. This clade is sister to '' Plocepasser''. Provided that the sister relationship between the ''Pseudonigrita''-species is correct, the following tree expresses current insights.


References


External links

* * Ploceidae Bird genera   Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Ploceidae-stub