Fan-tailed Widowbird

SCI Name:  Euplectes axillaris
Protonym:  Vidua axillaris Ill.Zool.S.Afr. pl.17,text
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Ploceidae / Euplectes
Taxonomy Code:  fatwid1
Type Locality:  between seven and eight hundred miles to the eastward of Cape Town''.
Author:  Smith, A
Publish Year:  1838
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

EUPLECTES
(Ploceidae; Ϯ Southern Red Bishop E. orix) Gr. ευ eu  fine, good; Mod. L. plectes  weaver  < Gr. πλεκω plekō  to plait; "DIVISIONS OR SUB-GENERA.  MALIMBUS. Vieil.  ...  PLOCEUS. Cuv.  ...  EUPLECTES. Nob.  Bill of Ploceus. Toes and claws very slender. The greater quills scarcely longer than the lesser; spurious quill very minute.  Type, Loxia Orix. L.  ...  The Weaving Birds, confined to the hotter regions of the old world, are chiefly found in Africa, where they represent the Hangnests (Icterinæ) of America: an analogy long since remarked by Buffon. Both these tribes astonish us by the consummate skill with which they fabricate their nests: but the intelligence displayed by the African Weavers is still more wonderful." (Swainson 1829); "Euplectes Swainson, Zool. Illustr. 2nd ser. i, text to pl. 37, 1929 [sic = 1829].  Type by original designation, Loxia orix Linn." (W. Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., II, p. 759).
Var. Eupodes.
Synon. Boetticherella, Chera, Coliuspasser, Coliostruthus, Diatropura, Drepanoplectes, Groteiplectes, Hyperanthus, Niobe, Niobella, Oryx, Paraplectes, Penthetria, Penthetriopsis, Phlogoplectes, Pyromelana, Tachyplectes, Taha, Urobrachya, Xanthomelana.

axillaris
L. axillaris  of the armpit  < axilla  armpit.
● ex “Axillary Falcon” of Latham 1801 (Elanus).

SUBSPECIES

Fan-tailed Widowbird (bocagei)
SCI Name: Euplectes axillaris bocagei
bocagei
Prof. José Vicente Barboza du Bocage (1823-1907) Portuguese ornithologist, father of Angolan ornithology (Bostrychia, Chlorophoneus, syn. Cinnyricinclus leucogaster verreauxi, Coccopygia, syn. Cyanoderma chrysaeum frigidum, subsp. Euplectes axillaris, subsp. Illadopsis rufipennis, subsp. Lybius torquatus, Sheppardia, subsp. Tchagra australis, syn. Tockus deckeni, subsp. Turdus pelios).

Fan-tailed Widowbird (traversii)
SCI Name: Euplectes axillaris traversii
traversii
Dr Raffaele Leopoldo Traversi (1856-1949) Italian physician, explorer in East Africa 1884-1894 (subsp. Euplectes axillaris, syn. Melaenornis chocolatinus).

Fan-tailed Widowbird (phoeniceus)
SCI Name: Euplectes axillaris phoeniceus
phoeniceum / phoeniceus
Gr. φοινικεος phoinikeos  crimson, red, dark-red, purple.
● ex “Red-wing’d Starling” of Catesby 1731, and Albin 1731 (Agelaius).

Fan-tailed Widowbird (zanzibaricus)
SCI Name: Euplectes axillaris zanzibaricus
zanzibarica / zanzibaricus
Zanzibar.

Fan-tailed Widowbird (axillaris)
SCI Name: Euplectes axillaris axillaris
axillaris
L. axillaris  of the armpit  < axilla  armpit.
● ex “Axillary Falcon” of Latham 1801 (Elanus).