Weavers (Ploceidae)

Yellow-crowned Bishop (Euplectes afer) - HBW 15, p. 143

French: Euplecte vorabé German: Tahaweber Spanish: Obispo Coronigualdo
Other common names: Napoleon/Golden Bishop; Black-winged(!)/Taha Golden Bishop (taha)

Taxonomy: Loxia afra J. F. Gmelin, 1789, Africa = Senegal.
This species and E. diadematus have sometimes been placed in a separate genus, Taha, and considered to form a superspecies, but molecular data suggest that present species occupies a basal position within current genus, without close relatives. Has hybridized with E. franciscanus in captivity. Proposed race ladoensis (described from S Sudan) subsumed in taha; validity of niassensis, description of which based on a single female (from Mitomoni, in S Tanzania), uncertain, as specimen not now available. Three subspecies currently recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

afer ( J. F. Gmelin, 1789) - S Mauritania, Gambia, coastal regions of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone, NE Ivory Coast, riverine areas of Mali, Burkina Faso, N parts of Ghana, Togo and Benin, SW Niger, N & C Nigeria, N, C & W Cameroon, N Central African Republic, W Sudan and Nile Valley, S to PRCongo along rivers, N DRCongo, and W Angola (Luanda region); sporadic records from Liberia, Chad, Gabon and Uganda.
strictus Hartlaub, 1857 - highland plateau of C Ethiopia.
taha A. Smith, 1836 - S Sudan, S Somalia, W Kenya, C Tanzania, SE DRCongo, S Angola, SW & N Zambia, N Namibia, N & E Botswana, W Zimbabwe, E South Africa and Lesotho lowlands; occasional records from Swaziland and Mozambique.