Red-billed Quelea

SCI Name:  Quelea quelea
Protonym:  Emberiza quelea Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.177
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Ploceidae / Quelea
Taxonomy Code:  rebque1
Type Locality:  India. Senegal, ex Brisson (see Linnaeus, 1776, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1, p. 310).
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

QUELEA
(Ploceidae; Ϯ Red-billed Quelea Q. quelea) Specific name Emberiza quelea Linnaeus, 1758. Reichenbach's 1850, plate LXXVI, labelled Passerinae: Fringillinae Ploceinae, includes a variety of weavers, finches and waxbills, and shows the distinctive head-pattern of the male Red-billed Quelea. "950. Quelea, Reichenb. 1850. (Ploceus, p. Gr.).   Africa.   1.    LOXIA sanguinirostris, L. (Emberiza quelea, L. - Passer senegalensis erythrorhynchos, Briss. - Fringilla quelea, Licht. - Loxia lathami, Smith. jun. - Ploceus sanguinirostris et Amadina! lathami, Gr. nec Gould.) Pl. enl. 183. 2. et 223. I. - Edw. B. t. 271. 2. - Vieill. Ois. Chant. t. 22. mas. 23. faem. 24. var.  ex Afr. or. occ. et mer." (Bonaparte 1850); "Quelea Reichenbach, 1850, Av. Syst. Nat., pl. 76, fig. 5. Type, by tautonymy, Emberiza quelea Linnaeus." (Moreau in Peters 1962, XV, 61); "Quelea Reichenbach, 1850, Avium Systema Naturale, pl. LXXVI (no specific names given).  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 70), Loxia sanguinirostris "Linn." auct. = Emberiza quelea Linnaeus, 1758." (JAJ 2021).  Drastic measures, including gassing, burning, and the use of explosives, have been used to curb the locust-like hordes of Red-billed Queleas which can have such a devastating effect upon agriculture in tropical Africa.
Var. Quela.
Synon. Hyphantica, Queleopsis.

quelea
Med. L. qualea quail. The relevance of this name to the Afrotropical queleas is unclear, but Jeffreys 1973, suggested a connection between the pestilential swarms of queleas that ravage the crops of modern Africa and the huge numbers of quail Coturnix that fell upon the camp of the Israelites, “as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth” (Numbers XI 31). Gotch 1987, believes it to be from an African native name, but perhaps has confused it with Dioch, a name formerly used as an English substantive, originally given to the Red-billed Quelea by the Yolof, a people of Senegambia (Quelea).

QUELEA
(Ploceidae; Ϯ Red-billed Quelea Q. quelea) Specific name Emberiza quelea Linnaeus, 1758. Reichenbach's 1850, plate LXXVI, labelled Passerinae: Fringillinae Ploceinae, includes a variety of weavers, finches and waxbills, and shows the distinctive head-pattern of the male Red-billed Quelea. "950. Quelea, Reichenb. 1850. (Ploceus, p. Gr.).   Africa.   1.    LOXIA sanguinirostris, L. (Emberiza quelea, L. - Passer senegalensis erythrorhynchos, Briss. - Fringilla quelea, Licht. - Loxia lathami, Smith. jun. - Ploceus sanguinirostris et Amadina! lathami, Gr. nec Gould.) Pl. enl. 183. 2. et 223. I. - Edw. B. t. 271. 2. - Vieill. Ois. Chant. t. 22. mas. 23. faem. 24. var.  ex Afr. or. occ. et mer." (Bonaparte 1850); "Quelea Reichenbach, 1850, Av. Syst. Nat., pl. 76, fig. 5. Type, by tautonymy, Emberiza quelea Linnaeus." (Moreau in Peters 1962, XV, 61); "Quelea Reichenbach, 1850, Avium Systema Naturale, pl. LXXVI (no specific names given).  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 70), Loxia sanguinirostris "Linn." auct. = Emberiza quelea Linnaeus, 1758." (JAJ 2021).  Drastic measures, including gassing, burning, and the use of explosives, have been used to curb the locust-like hordes of Red-billed Queleas which can have such a devastating effect upon agriculture in tropical Africa.
Var. Quela.
Synon. Hyphantica, Queleopsis.

quelea
Med. L. qualea quail. The relevance of this name to the Afrotropical queleas is unclear, but Jeffreys 1973, suggested a connection between the pestilential swarms of queleas that ravage the crops of modern Africa and the huge numbers of quail Coturnix that fell upon the camp of the Israelites, “as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth” (Numbers XI 31). Gotch 1987, believes it to be from an African native name, but perhaps has confused it with Dioch, a name formerly used as an English substantive, originally given to the Red-billed Quelea by the Yolof, a people of Senegambia (Quelea).

SUBSPECIES

Red-billed Quelea (quelea)
SCI Name: Quelea quelea quelea
QUELEA
(Ploceidae; Ϯ Red-billed Quelea Q. quelea) Specific name Emberiza quelea Linnaeus, 1758. Reichenbach's 1850, plate LXXVI, labelled Passerinae: Fringillinae Ploceinae, includes a variety of weavers, finches and waxbills, and shows the distinctive head-pattern of the male Red-billed Quelea. "950. Quelea, Reichenb. 1850. (Ploceus, p. Gr.).   Africa.   1.    LOXIA sanguinirostris, L. (Emberiza quelea, L. - Passer senegalensis erythrorhynchos, Briss. - Fringilla quelea, Licht. - Loxia lathami, Smith. jun. - Ploceus sanguinirostris et Amadina! lathami, Gr. nec Gould.) Pl. enl. 183. 2. et 223. I. - Edw. B. t. 271. 2. - Vieill. Ois. Chant. t. 22. mas. 23. faem. 24. var.  ex Afr. or. occ. et mer." (Bonaparte 1850); "Quelea Reichenbach, 1850, Av. Syst. Nat., pl. 76, fig. 5. Type, by tautonymy, Emberiza quelea Linnaeus." (Moreau in Peters 1962, XV, 61); "Quelea Reichenbach, 1850, Avium Systema Naturale, pl. LXXVI (no specific names given).  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 70), Loxia sanguinirostris "Linn." auct. = Emberiza quelea Linnaeus, 1758." (JAJ 2021).  Drastic measures, including gassing, burning, and the use of explosives, have been used to curb the locust-like hordes of Red-billed Queleas which can have such a devastating effect upon agriculture in tropical Africa.
Var. Quela.
Synon. Hyphantica, Queleopsis.

Red-billed Quelea (aethiopica)
SCI Name: Quelea quelea aethiopica
aethiopica / aethiopicus
L. Aethiopicus  Ethiopian, African  < Gr. Αιθιοπικος Aithiopikos  Ethiopian, negro  < αιθω aithō  to burn; ωψ ōps, ωπος ōpos  face.
● ex “Merle noir et blanc d’Abissinie” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Ethiopian Thrush” of Latham 1783 (Laniarius).
● ex “Abou Hannes” of Bruce 1790 (Threskiornis).

Red-billed Quelea (lathamii)
SCI Name: Quelea quelea lathamii
lathami / lathamii
Dr John Latham (1740-1837) English ornithologist (syn. Aegolius harrisii (ex “Rufous Owl” of Latham 1821), Alectura (ex “New Holland Vulture” of Latham 1821), syn. Aviceda leuphotes, syn. Calliope calliope, syn. Calorhamphus fuliginosus (ex “Buff-faced Barbet” of Latham 1782), Calyptorhynchus (ex “Banksian Cockatoo, var. B” of Latham 1802), syn. Colaptes cafer, syn. Daphoenositta chrysoptera, Emberiza, syn. Eos bornea, syn. Falco columbarius, syn. Fratercula cirrhata, syn. Hierococcyx varius, syn. Lathamus discolor (ex “Perruche Latham” of Levaillant 1801), Lophura, Peliperdix, syn. Petroica rodinogaster, subsp. Poecile cinctus, subsp. Quelea quelea, syn. Sericornis citreogularis, syn. Stagonopleura guttata, syn. Tachybaptus ruficollis, syn. Threskiornis spinicollis, syn. Trachyphonus vaillantii, syn. Tragopan satyra, syn. Tringa stagnatilis).