Yellow-mantled widowbird
| Yellow-mantled widowbird | |
|---|---|
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| Nominate race in the Central African Republic | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Ploceidae |
| Genus: | Euplectes |
| Species: | E. macroura
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| Binomial name | |
| Euplectes macroura (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
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The yellow-mantled widowbird (Euplectes macroura), also known as the yellow-backed widow, is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae.
Taxonomy
The yellow-mantled widowbird was
locality as "Whydah"; this is Ouidah on the coast of Benin is East Africa.[2] The specific epithet is from Ancient Greek makros meaning "long" and -ouros meaning "tailed".[3] The yellow-mantled widowbird is now one of 18 species placed in the genus Euplectes that was introduced in 1829 by the English naturalist William John Swainson.[4]
- E. m. macrocercus (Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823) – Ethiopia, Uganda and west Kenya
- E. m. macroura (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – Senegal and Gambia to south Sudan and southwest Kenya and south to Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and west Mozambique
- E. m. conradsi (Berger, 1908) – Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria
Description
Males are larger than females and acquire longer tails and striking black and golden yellow plumages in the breeding season. The mantle colour is either golden yellow, or in the case of the northeastern race, E. m. macrocercus, black. The yellow shoulders persist in all male plumages, whether breeding or non-breeding.[5]
Range and habitat
Its natural
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The distinctive race E. m. subsp. macrocercus occurs in Eritrea, Ethiopia, western Kenya and Uganda.[5]
_(14732608146),_Euplectes_macrourus.jpg)
References
- . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 845.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Old World sparrows, snowfinches, weavers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-77007-623-5.
External links
- (Yellow-mantled widowbird = ) Yellow-backed widow - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
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