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