Vitelline Masked Weaver (Ploceus vitellinus)

Family
Ploceidae (Weavers)

Size
13 - 14 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Lichtenstein, 1823)

Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland dry shrubland, dry savanna. From sea-level - 1,800 m.

Range (Guide)

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Equatorial Guinea (B), Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, S�o Tom� e Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda.

South-western Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, southern Mali, Burkina Faso and northern Ghana east to southern Chad, northern Central African Republic, southern and eastern Sudan, north-eastern DRCongo, southern Ethiopia, north-western and southern Somalia, north-western Uganda and north-central Kenya south to central Tanzania.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
A sharp 'zik zik'. Usual weaver squizzling notes.

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (4)...)

Vitelline Masked Weaver (Ploceus vitellinus) [XC690354]
by Martin Tlustos from Mandegee farm, oloitoktok, Kenya (song)

Vitelline Masked Weaver (Ploceus vitellinus) [XC601095]
by isaac kilusu from Mandegee farm, oloitoktok, Kenya (song)

Subspecies
Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus), Vitelline Masked Weaver (Ploceus vitellinus) and Katanga Masked Weaver (Ploceus katangae) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) are retained as species contra Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993) who include vitellinus and katangae as subspecies of Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus).

Has been thought to form a superspecies, or even to be conspecific, with Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus), Tanzanian Masked Weaver (Ploceus reichardi), Lufira Masked Weaver (Ploceus ruweti) and Katanga Masked Weaver (Ploceus katangae). Eastern African populations sometimes separated as subspecies uluensis (described from Ulu Mts, in Kenya), but considerable individual variation evident in the characters proposed.

The following 2 subspecies are recognised:

vitellinus (Lichtenstein, 1823) - Western, central, eastern.
uluensis (Neumann, 1900) - Ethiopia to Kenya and northern Tanzania.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Vitelline Masked Weaver (Ploceus vitellinus) - 10 files

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BirdLife International

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