Quelea

{{Short description|Genus of African birds}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Quelea'' | image = Red-billed quelea flocking at waterhole.jpg | image_caption = Red-billed quelea (''Quelea quelea'') | taxon = Quelea | authority = Reichenbach, 1850 | type_species = ''Loxia sanguinirostris''<ref name=HM4>{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=190 |title= Ploceidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-16}}</ref> | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1766 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''Quelea cardinalis''<br /> ''Quelea erythrops''<br /> ''Quelea quelea'' }}

'''''Quelea''''' ({{IPAc-en|'|k|w|iː|l|i|ə}}) is a genus of small passerine birds that belongs to the weaver family Ploceidae, confined to Africa. These are small-sized, sparrow- or finch-like gregarious birds, with bills adapted to eating seeds. Queleas may be nomadic over vast ranges; the red-billed quelea is said to be the most numerous wild bird species in the world<ref>{{cite book |last= Sekercioglu |first=Cagan Hakki |year=2006 |chapter=Foreword |title=Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers |editor=Josep del Hoyo |editor2=Andrew Elliott |editor3=David Christie|location=Barcelona |publisher=Lynx Edicions |isbn=978-84-96553-06-4| page=48|title-link=Handbook of the Birds of the World }}</ref> and is a major pest to small-grain cereal crops in much of sub-Saharan Africa.

== Taxonomy == There are three species: thumb|right|A flock of red-billed queleas

{{Species table |genus=Quelea |authority-name=Reichenbach|authority-year=1850 |species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row |name= Cardinal quelea |binomial=Quelea cardinalis |image=File:Quelea cardinalis - Cardinal Quelea.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Hartlaub |authority-year= 1880|authority-not-original=yes |range= Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. |range-image= |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }}

{{Species table/row |name= Red-headed quelea |binomial=Quelea erythrops |image=File:Quelea erythrops -South Africa -building nest-8.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Hartlaub|authority-year=1848 |authority-not-original=yes |range= Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |range-image= |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies= }}

{{Species table/row |name=Red-billed quelea |binomial=Quelea quelea |image=File:Red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea aethiopica) male breeding plumage yellow.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption=Male |image2 =File:Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) - Flickr - Lip Kee.jpg|image2-caption=Female |authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes |range= Subsaharan Africa, but absent from Madagascar, and avoiding rainforest, high altitude and South Africa's south coast |range-image=File:Red billed quelea map.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on |''Quelea quelea quelea'' |''Quelea quelea lathamii'' |''Quelea queleaaethiopica'' }} }}

=== Phylogeny === Based on recent DNA-analysis, the red-billed quelea is sister to a clade that consist of both remaining species of the genus ''Quelea'', namely ''Q. cardinalis'' and ''Q. erythrops''. The genus belongs to the group of true weavers (subfamily Ploceinae), and is most related to ''Foudia'', a genus of six or seven species that occur on the islands of the western Indian Ocean. This clade is sister to the Asian species of the genus ''Ploceus''.

The following tree represents current insight of the relationships between the species of ''Quelea'', and their closest relatives.<ref>{{cite journal|first1= Thilina N.|last1= De Silva|first2= A. Townsend|last2= Peterson|first3= John M.|last3= Bates|first4= Sumudu W.|last4= Fernandoa|first5= Matthew G.|last5= Girard|year= 2017|title= Phylogenetic relationships of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae): A first robust phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers|journal= Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume= 109|pages= 21–32|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.013|pmid= 28012957|bibcode= 2017MolPE.109...21D|s2cid= 205841906}}</ref> {{clade | style=font-size:100%;line-height:120% |1={{clade |1={{clade |label1=genus ''Quelea'' |1={{clade |1= ''Q. quelea'' |2={{clade |1=''Q. cardinalis'' |2=''Q. erythrops'' }} }} |2=genus ''Foudia'' }} |2= Asian species of the genus ''Ploceus'' }} }}

== Impact on agriculture == ''Q. quelea'' is a major pest to small-grain cereal crops in much of sub-Saharan Africa; the kernels of corn are too big for it. ''Q. erythrops'' may cause substantial damage to rice. ''Q. cardinalis'' is not known to raid crops.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Oschadleus|first= H.D.|year= 2001|title= An updated bibliography of the African Quelea species|journal= South African Journal of Science|volume= 97|issue= 7/8|pages= 339–340|publisher= National Research Foundation Pretoria South Africa}} cited on {{cite web|website= Invasive Species Compendium|title= Abstract - An updated bibliography of the African Quelea species|url= http://www.cabi.org/isc/abstract/20013138156|access-date= 2017-05-04|archive-date= 2017-08-07|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170807192415/http://www.cabi.org/isc/abstract/20013138156|url-status= dead}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Quelea Category:Ploceidae Category:Bird genera Category:Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach