Weaver news

Weaver Wednesday [141] - Discovery [24]: Orange Weaver

2015-02-25 (624)

gravit8 Weaver Wednesday (species text)

Orange Weaver Ploceus aurantius

Orange Weaver
Orange Weaver,
figure from Vieillot 1805
Orange Weaver
Orange Weaver bill (circled)
compared to other weavers,
figure from Swainson 1838
Orange Weaver map
Orange Weaver
distribution, type locality circled

Introduction

The Orange Weaver was formally described by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, a French ornithologist. The birds had been collected by Jean Perrein, a French naturalist, who travelled in Africa and on other continents. Vieillot was interested in the habits of living birds, but Perrein did not seem to provide any field notes for the Orange Weaver, as he had done for the Crested Malimbe.

Vieillot mentioned that the Orange Weaver had been collected in the same area as the previous species in his publication, ie. the Crested Malimbe. Thus the type locality is Malimbe, now called Malembo, in Cabinda, Angola.

Perrein sent his specimens to Academy of Sciences in Bordeaux, France, from where the Orange Weaver type was moved to the Paris Museum (Swainson 1838).

Scientific citation

Malimbus aurantius Vieillot 1805 Ois. Chant. p.73 Malimbe.

Meaning of names

aurantia Mod. Latin aurantius, orange-coloured, tawny (aurantia, an orange).

Alternate names

Uganda Orange Weaver.

Collector

Jean Perrein.

Date collected

Before 1805.

Locality collected

Malimbe =Malembo, Cabinda, Angola.

Type specimens

Type specimen probably still in the Natural History Museum in Paris.