Ploceidae

The family Ploceidae was introduced (as Ploceïdes) by Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1836. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the family is sister to a clade containing the families Viduidae and Estrildidae Their common ancestor lived in the middle Miocene around 18 million years ago. A 2017 molecular phylogenetic study by Thilina de Silva and collaborators, as well as an expanded study by the same group published in 2019 have indicated that the genus Ploceus as currently defined is polyphyletic. A cladogram based on these results is shown below. For more detail, see list of Ploceidae species. ==Description==

The males of many species in this family are brightly coloured, usually in red or yellow and black. Some species show variation in colour only in the breeding season. These are seed-eating birds with rounded conical bills. ==Distribution and habitat==

The weaverbird colonies may be found close to bodies of water. ==Behaviour and ecology==

Weavers are named for their elaborately woven nests. The nests vary in size, shape, material used, and construction techniques from species to species. Materials used for building nests include fine leaf fibers, grass, and twigs. Many species weave very fine nests using thin strands of leaf fiber, though some, like the buffalo-weavers, form massive untidy stick nests in their colonies, which may have spherical woven nests within. The sociable weavers of Africa build apartment-house nests, in which 100 to 300 pairs have separate flask-shaped chambers entered by tubes at the bottom. The sparrow weavers live in family units that employ cooperative breeding. Most species weave nests that have narrow entrances, facing downward. Many weaver species are gregarious and breed colonially. The birds build their nests together for protection, often several to a branch. Usually, the male birds weave the nests and use them as a form of display to lure prospective females. ==Relationship to humans==

They sometimes cause crop damage, notably the red-billed quelea, reputed to be the world's most numerous bird. ==Gallery==

File:Under Construction - Weaver Bird.jpg|A nest in the early stages of construction File:Weaverbirds at West Bengal.jpg|Weaverbirds at West Bengal File:Sporopipes squamifrons 1838.jpg|Adult Sporopipes at its spherical grass nest, placed in a shrub File:Nids de Plocepasser mahali (Namibie) (3).jpg|Plocepasser nest in Namibia, for year-round occupation. File:2010-09-25 09-03-47 Namibia Hardap Isabis.jpg|Communal Philetairus nests in central Namibia File:Pseudonigrita-arnaudi-Nest.JPG|Pseudonigrita nest in Kenya, with entrance below File:Black-breasted Weaver Ploceus benghalensis by Dr. Raju Kasambe 03.jpg|Black-breasted weaver nest suspended from grass, India File:Ploceidae.jpg|A baya weaver on his unfinished nest, northern India File:Nests_in_Palmyra_Palm_tree.jpg|Nests of a baya weaver colony suspended from a palm tree, India File:Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) (6041539514).jpg|Male Quelea at nest concealed in thorny Senegalia shrub File:Euplectes orix -Pretoria, South Africa -male weaving nest-8 (1).jpg|Red bishop constructing a nest in reeds, South Africa File:Weaver bird nests at Ifaty (3445328641).jpg|Nests of a colony of Sakalava weavers, Madagascar File:GambiaGeorgeTown043 (12249665914).jpg|Spherical village weaver nests suspended from a palm tree, West Africa File:Tisserin Etosha.jpg|A southern masked weaver building his nest, Namibia File:ASC Leiden - van de Bruinhorst Collection - Somaliland 2019 - 4530 - A detail of the nest of weaver birds hanging from a tree.jpg|Hanging nest, Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 2019. == References ==