Weaver news

Weaver Wednesday [236] - Discovery [119]: Overview 2

2016-12-21 (758)


gravit8 Weaver Wednesday (species list)

Overview - Discovery by distribution

Introduction

The second Weaver Wednesday series, called Discovery, started with the first weaver to be described, the Black-winged Bishop, on 17 September 2014, and ran in chronological sequence for 117 weeks, ending with Kilombero Weaver on 7 December 2016.

Weaver species were first described from 34 different countries, including four Asian countries. Most weaver species were described from Angola and South Africa (n=15 weavers in each country), followed by Tanzania and Senegal (8 each).

Golden-naped Weaver
Golden-naped Weaver,
figure from Gyldenstolpe 1924a
Discovered in the 20th century
deep in the interior of Africa
as late as 1920
Country n     Country n
Angola 15   Sierra Leone 2
South Africa 15   Indonesia 1
Tanzania 8   Nepal 1
Senegal 8   Thailand 1
Kenya 7   Gabon 1
Cameroon 7   Equatorial Guinea 1
Ethiopia 5   Zambia 1
Sudan 5   Eritrea 1
Uganda 5   Somalia 1
Congo, DR 4   South Sudan 1
Madagascar 4   Comoros 1
Sao Tome & Principe 4   Namibia 1
India 3   Benin 1
Ghana 3   Cote d'Ivoire 1
Malawi 2   Gambia 1
Mauritius 2   Liberia 1
Seychelles 2   Nigeria 1

Illustration

map
Weavers described by region and time period:
Red - weavers described from 1758 to 1799.
Yellow - weavers described from 1800 to 1849.
Green - weavers described from 1850 to 1899.
Blue - weavers described from 1900 to 1999.

NOTE: Google has shifted all points slightly to the west when coloured icons are used. Thus the southern most red point (Yellow Bishop) should be moved to the right to locate on the Cape Peninsula. All other markers should be shifted by the same amount to the right.

This figure shows that the earliest weavers (Red on map) to be described were collected on the west coast of Africa, 2 Indian Ocean islands, and Asia. During the early 1800s (Yellow on map) new weavers were collected on the west African coast, southern Africa (coast and inland), Ethiopia to Sudan, and 1 in Asia. During the late 1800s (Green on map) new weavers were collected mostly in tropical Africa from west to east, on Indian Ocean islands, and 1 in Asia. During the 1900s (Blue on map) new weavers were collected mostly in tropical Africa, and 1 in Madagascar.

Read more

A more extensive overview appears in a Biodiversity Observations paper titled Overview of the discovery of the weavers.