Long-tailed Widowbird

SCI Name:  Euplectes progne
Protonym:  Emberiza progne TablePlanchesEnlum. p.39
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Ploceidae / Euplectes
Taxonomy Code:  lotwid1
Type Locality:  Cape of Good Hope, ex pi. 653.
Author:  Boddaert
Publish Year:  1783
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.

PROGNE
(Hirundinidae; Ϯ Purple Martin P. subis) L. progne or procne  swallow (Gr. myth. Progne, Prokne or Procne, daughter of King Pandion of Athens and wife to King Tereus of Thrace. Tereus raped Progne’s sister, Philomela, cut out his victim’s tongue and then imprisoned her. Progne discovered the hideous deed by way of a smuggled tapestry, rescued her sister, and, in revenge, butchered her own son Itylus and fed him to Tereus at a Bacchic orgy. Before Tereus could put the dishonoured sisters to the sword they were metamorphosed into a nightingale and a swallow); "I. Fam. Hirundinidae Vigors.  Hirundo Lin.  ...  Progne: Hir. purpurea Gm.  Wils. pl. 39 fig. 2. u.a."(Boie 1826); "Progne Boie, 1826, Isis von Oken, col. 971. Type, by monotypy, Hirundo purpurea "Gm. Wils. pl. 39, fig. 2" = Hirundo subis Linnaeus." (Peters 1960, IX, 85).
Var. Procne.
Synon. Phaeoprogne, Tapera.

progne
Gr. myth. Progne or Procne, daughter of King Pandion of Athens and wife to King Tereus of Thrace (see Progne); ex “Veuve à epaulettes” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Euplectes).

SUBSPECIES

Long-tailed Widowbird (delamerei)
SCI Name: Euplectes progne delamerei
delamerei
Hugh Cholmondeley 3rd Baron Delamere (1870-1931) pioneer settler in East Africa Protectorate (= Kenya) 1903-1931 (subsp. Estrilda erythronotos, subsp. Euplectes progne, subsp. Spizocorys fremantlii).

Long-tailed Widowbird (progne)
SCI Name: Euplectes progne progne
PROGNE
(Hirundinidae; Ϯ Purple Martin P. subis) L. progne or procne  swallow (Gr. myth. Progne, Prokne or Procne, daughter of King Pandion of Athens and wife to King Tereus of Thrace. Tereus raped Progne’s sister, Philomela, cut out his victim’s tongue and then imprisoned her. Progne discovered the hideous deed by way of a smuggled tapestry, rescued her sister, and, in revenge, butchered her own son Itylus and fed him to Tereus at a Bacchic orgy. Before Tereus could put the dishonoured sisters to the sword they were metamorphosed into a nightingale and a swallow); "I. Fam. Hirundinidae Vigors.  Hirundo Lin.  ...  Progne: Hir. purpurea Gm.  Wils. pl. 39 fig. 2. u.a."(Boie 1826); "Progne Boie, 1826, Isis von Oken, col. 971. Type, by monotypy, Hirundo purpurea "Gm. Wils. pl. 39, fig. 2" = Hirundo subis Linnaeus." (Peters 1960, IX, 85).
Var. Procne.
Synon. Phaeoprogne, Tapera.

Long-tailed Widowbird (delacouri)
SCI Name: Euplectes progne delacouri
delacouri
Dr Jean Théodore Delacour (1890-1985) French ornithologist, aviculturalist, explorer in Indochina 1923-1939 and Madagascar 1929, conservationist, collector (syn. Caprimulgus manillensis, subsp. Euplectes progne, subsp. Glaucidium cuculoides, syn. Lanius collurioides nigricapillus, subsp. Napothera epilepidota, subsp. Neomixis viridis, subsp. Picoides canicapillus, subsp. Prinia flaviventris, subsp. Pteruthius rufiventer, syn. Saxicola maurus stejnegeri, syn. Schoeniparus cinereus, syn. Sitta nagaensis, subsp. Smithornis capensis, subsp. Treron sphenurus, syn. Yuhina diademata).