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Weavers (Ploceidae)

Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis) - HBW 15, p. 162

French: Tisserin du Cap German: Kapweber Spanish: Tejedor de El Cabo

Taxonomy: Oriolus capensis Linnaeus, 1766, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
Has been thought to form a superspecies with P. temporalis, or even to be conspecific, but affinities of both species unclear. Report of hybridization in captivity between "Olivaceous and Golden Weavers" probably refers to present species and either P. xanthops or (more likely) P. subaureus. Proposed races are olivaceus (described from Windvogelberg, in S Eastern Cape) and rubricomus (from NE South Africa), but male plumage exhibits considerable variation within any one colony, distribution is continuous, and size variation appears to be clinal; naming of g.. View all taxonomy...

Taxonomy: Oriolus capensis Linnaeus, 1766, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
Has been thought to form a superspecies with P. temporalis, or even to be conspecific, but affinities of both species unclear. Report of hybridization in captivity between "Olivaceous and Golden Weavers" probably refers to present species and either P. xanthops or (more likely) P. subaureus. Proposed races are olivaceus (described from Windvogelberg, in S Eastern Cape) and rubricomus (from NE South Africa), but male plumage exhibits considerable variation within any one colony, distribution is continuous, and size variation appears to be clinal; naming of geographical races, therefore, considered unwarranted. Treated as monotypic.

Distribution: South Africa (except arid interior and subtropical E lowlands), including Robben I (off SW coast), also W Swaziland and Lesotho lowlands.

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