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Weavers (Ploceidae)

Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) - HBW 15, p. 164

French: Tisserin à tête rousse German: Maskenweber Spanish: Tejedor Enmascarado
Other common names: African Masked Weaver, Black-faced Weaver

Taxonomy: Ploceus velatus Vieillot, 1819, Namaqualand, South Africa.
Has been thought to form a superspecies, or even to be conspecific, with P. vitellinus, P. reichardi, P. ruweti and P. katangae, but current molecular data do not support any close links to these taxa. Proposed races peixotoi (confined to São Tomé, where introduced!), finschi (described from Namibe, in SW Angola), caurinus (from Damaraland, in Namibia), shelleyi (from Tete, on R Zambezi, in NW Mozambique) and, in South Africa, tahatali (from North West Province), inustus (from SW Northern Cape) and nigrifr.. View all taxonomy...

Taxonomy: Ploceus velatus Vieillot, 1819, Namaqualand, South Africa.
Has been thought to form a superspecies, or even to be conspecific, with P. vitellinus, P. reichardi, P. ruweti and P. katangae, but current molecular data do not support any close links to these taxa. Proposed races peixotoi (confined to São Tomé, where introduced!), finschi (described from Namibe, in SW Angola), caurinus (from Damaraland, in Namibia), shelleyi (from Tete, on R Zambezi, in NW Mozambique) and, in South Africa, tahatali (from North West Province), inustus (from SW Northern Cape) and nigrifrons (from Eastern Cape) separated on basis of minor differences in male plumage; characters such as width of black on forehead exhibit considerable individual variation, however, and naming of races appears unwarranted. Monotypic.

Distribution: SW & SE Angola, W, S & E Zambia, Malawi and NW Mozambique S to coasts of South Africa. Introduced on São Tomé, apparently from Mozambique.

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