Systematics

Estrelda squamifrons A. Smith, 1836, Report of the Expedition for Exploring Central Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope, p. 49; type locality reported as "South Africa" (23 Smith, A. (1836). Report of the Expedition for Exploring Central Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope. Government Gazette Office, Cape Town, South Africa Close ), but later restricted to Kuruman by Clancey (24 Clancey, P. A. (1957). Geographical variation in the South African populations of Malaconotus blanchoti Stephens with the description of a new race. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 77:99-102. Close ).

There are at least 4 type specimens in different museums: Natural History Museum, London (BM 1872.10.4.92; 25 Warren, R. L. M., and C. J. O. Harrison (1971). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 2. Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close ), Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (ANSP 13911), and World Museum, Liverpool (D1774 and D1774a; 26 Wagstaffe, R. (1978). Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums (Formerly City of Liverpool Museums). Merseyside County Museums, Liverpool, UK. Close ).

Synonyms:

Fringilla lepidoptera Lichtenstein, 1842, Verzeichniss einer Sammlung von Säugethieren und Vögeln aus dem Kaffernlande, p. 15 (27 Lichtenstein, H. (1842). Verzeichniss einer Sammlung von Säugethieren und Vögeln aus dem Kaffernlande. Gedruckt in der Druckerei der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, Germany Close ).

Sporopipes squamifrons damarensis Reichenow, 1905, Die Vögel Afrikas 3:838. Type locality given as Rehoboth, South West Africa [=Namibia] (28 Reichenow, A. (1905). Die Vögel Afrikas. Vol. 3(2). J. Neumann, Neudamm, Germany. In German. Close ). Type in Berlin Museum.

Sporopipes squamifrons fuligescens Clancey, 1957, Durban Museum Novitates 5(4):49; type listed as "Glen, on the Modder River, north of Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa" [=Free State Province] (29 Clancey, P. A. (1957). Miscellaneous taxonomic notes on African birds IX. Descriptions of six new races of birds from the interior of South Africa. Durban Museum Novitates 5(4):43–50. Close ). The type specimen is an adult male collected by P. A. Clancey on 11 May 1957 (29 Clancey, P. A. (1957). Miscellaneous taxonomic notes on African birds IX. Descriptions of six new races of birds from the interior of South Africa. Durban Museum Novitates 5(4):43–50. Close ).

Sporopipes squamifrons pallidus, Rosa Pinto, 1967, Boletim do Instituto de Investigação científica de Angola 4:29-32; type locality listed as "Caraculo, Moçamedes, Angola" [=Namibe, Angola]. The type specimen was collected by A. M. Ferreira on 14 June 1962 (30 Dean, W. R. J., U. Franke, G. Joseph, F. M. Gonçalves, M. S. L. Mills, S. J. Milton, A. Monadjem, and H. D. Oschadleus (2012). Type specimens in the bird collection at Lubango, Angola. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 132(1):41–45. Close ).

Some early authors placed this species in genera Estrelda and Amadina. Scaly Weaver forms a superspecies with Speckle-fronted Weaver (Sporopipes frontalis) (31 Hall, B. P., and R. E. Moreau (1970). An Atlas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, United Kingdom. Close ). Based on a detailed anatomical study of Scaly Weaver, it was proposed that the two Sporopipes species should constitute their own subfamily, the Sporopipinae (32 Sushkin, P. P. (1927). On the anatomy and classification of the weaver-birds. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 57:1-32. Close ). This subfamily was, in many respects, intermediate between the typical weavers (Ploceus), and the buffalo-weavers (Bubalornis), and sparrow-weavers (Plocepasser). Although it shares certain anatomical features with Estrildidae, Sushkin (32 Sushkin, P. P. (1927). On the anatomy and classification of the weaver-birds. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 57:1-32. Close ) was of the opinion that Sporopipes most certainly did not belong in the family Estrildidae. Other authors have also placed it in its own subfamily (e.g., 33 Bock, W. J. (1994). History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222:1–281. Close ).

Genetic studies have largely vindicated Sushkin (32 Sushkin, P. P. (1927). On the anatomy and classification of the weaver-birds. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 57:1-32. Close ), although its position is still not fully resolved. In one study, it appears that Sporopipes is sister to the genera Plocepasser, Philetairus, Pseudonigrita, and Histurgops, and together are placed in the subfamily Plocepasserinae (34 De Silva, T. N., A. T. Peterson, and U. Perktas (2019). An extensive molecular phylogeny of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae) unveils broad nonmonophyly of traditional genera and new relationships. Auk 136(3):ukz041. Close ). However, another study instead found that the position of Sporopipes is not fully resolved, and forms a polytomy near the base of the entire Ploceidae family, together with Plocepasser, Philetairus, Pseudonigrita, and Histurgops (35 Bowie, R. C. K., and J. Fjeldså (2020). Superfamily Passeroidea. In The Largest Avian Radiation: The Evolution of Perching Birds, or the Order Passeriformes (J. Fjeldså, L. Christidis, and P. G. P. Ericson, Editors), Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 263–318. Close ).

Varies mainly in the shades of gray on upperparts, and the color of the feather fringes. A series of birds from Angola, which would represent the nominate subspecies, Sporopipes squamifrons squamifrons were reportedly slightly smaller than birds from Namibia (20 da Rosa Pinto, A. A. (1967). Descrição de 4 novas subespécies de aves de Angola. Boletim do Instituto de Investigação Científica de Angola 4:29-32. Close ), but the sample size was small, and these size differences may not be real.

Some subspecies are recognized by recent authors (e.g., 36 Dickinson, E. C., and L. Christidis (Editors) (2014). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Fourth Edition. Volume 2. Aves Press, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Close , 37 Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen, Editors. 2023. IOC World Bird List (v13.1). Close ), but treated as monotypic in the Clements checklist (38 Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood (2022). The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. Close ). Proposed subspecies fuligenscens recognized as valid by some (2 Dean, W. R. J. (2005). Scaly-feathered Finch Sporopipes squamifrons. In Roberts Birds of Southern Africa. 7th edition (P. A. R. Hockey, W. R. J. Dean and P. G. Ryan, Editors), Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, South Africa. pp. 1005–1006. Close , 36 Dickinson, E. C., and L. Christidis (Editors) (2014). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Fourth Edition. Volume 2. Aves Press, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Close , 37 Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen, Editors. 2023. IOC World Bird List (v13.1). Close ), but not others (1 Craig, A. J. F. K. (2004). Ploceus olivaceiceps (Reichenow). Olive-headed Weaver. In The Birds of Africa. Vol. VII. (C. F. Fry and S. Keith, Editors), Christopher Helm, London, United Kingdom. pp. 189–191. Close ), and described on the basis of its darker plumage than the nominate, with the upperparts more grayish, and underparts generally whiter. The edges of the scaly feathers on the head, wing coverts, and tail were also described as white, not sandy like the nominate subspecies, however these differences are probably not distinct enough to warrant subspecific distinction. Proposed subspecies pallidus from southwestern Angola was described as being paler and smaller than the nominate (30 Dean, W. R. J., U. Franke, G. Joseph, F. M. Gonçalves, M. S. L. Mills, S. J. Milton, A. Monadjem, and H. D. Oschadleus (2012). Type specimens in the bird collection at Lubango, Angola. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 132(1):41–45. Close ). Proposed subspecies damarensis was described from Rehoboth, central Namibia, based on its paler, grayer plumage; it was recognized by some (e.g., 39 Mayr, E., and J. C. Greenway, Editors (1962). Check-list of Birds of the World. A Continuation of the Work of James L. Peters. Volume 15. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Close ), but has generally not been accepted as a valid subspecies by most recent authorities (36 Dickinson, E. C., and L. Christidis (Editors) (2014). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Fourth Edition. Volume 2. Aves Press, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Close , 38 Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood (2022). The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. Close , 37 Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen, Editors. 2023. IOC World Bird List (v13.1). Close ).

Scaly Weaver is sister to Speckle-fronted Weaver (Sporopipes frontalis), the only other member of the genus Sporopipes (34 De Silva, T. N., A. T. Peterson, and U. Perktas (2019). An extensive molecular phylogeny of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae) unveils broad nonmonophyly of traditional genera and new relationships. Auk 136(3):ukz041. Close , 35 Bowie, R. C. K., and J. Fjeldså (2020). Superfamily Passeroidea. In The Largest Avian Radiation: The Evolution of Perching Birds, or the Order Passeriformes (J. Fjeldså, L. Christidis, and P. G. P. Ericson, Editors), Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 263–318. Close ). These two species have at times been placed in their own subfamily, Sporopipinae (32 Sushkin, P. P. (1927). On the anatomy and classification of the weaver-birds. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 57:1-32. Close , 33 Bock, W. J. (1994). History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222:1–281. Close ). Together, these two species may be sister to a group of weavers in the genera Plocepasser, Philetairus, Pseudonigrita, and Histurgop (34 De Silva, T. N., A. T. Peterson, and U. Perktas (2019). An extensive molecular phylogeny of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae) unveils broad nonmonophyly of traditional genera and new relationships. Auk 136(3):ukz041. Close ). However, this relationship has not been recovered in all studies, with these two species instead forming a polytomy with those same genera near the base of the Ploceidae phylogeny (35 Bowie, R. C. K., and J. Fjeldså (2020). Superfamily Passeroidea. In The Largest Avian Radiation: The Evolution of Perching Birds, or the Order Passeriformes (J. Fjeldså, L. Christidis, and P. G. P. Ericson, Editors), Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 263–318. Close ).

No records of hybridization in the wild or in captivity (40 McCarthy, E. M. (2006). Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. Close ).

In isiZulu, the Scaly Weaver is referred to as Usontshetshana (41 Birdlife (2022). Checklist for South Africa in isiZulu. BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. Close ). In Tswana, it is Letsetsenkana (42 Lepage, D. Avibase: The World Bird Database. 2005-2016, https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/avibase.jsp. Accessed 22 February 2023. Close ). In Sotho (Northern), it is Thaga (42 Lepage, D. Avibase: The World Bird Database. 2005-2016, https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/avibase.jsp. Accessed 22 February 2023. Close ).

In southern Africa, which comprises the bulk of the range of this species, it is known as the Scaly-feathered Finch, while internationally known as the Scaly Weaver, which is more in line with the English name of its sister species, the Speckle-fronted Weaver (Sporopipes frontalis). Other names include Scaly-feathered Weaver (37 Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen, Editors. 2023. IOC World Bird List (v13.1). Close ) and Scaly-fronted Weaver. In aviculture, it is also known as the Scaly-crowned Weaver (43 Alderton, D. (1993). The Handbook of Cage and Aviary Birds. Bok Books International, London, United Kingdom. Close ).

In Afrikaans, it is referred to as Baardmannetjie (meaning "bearded man," referring to the black malar stripes), as well as Gryskoppie (meaning "gray head") (44 Attard, B. (2021). Kubervoëlklub se Voëllys van Suider Afrikaanse Voëlspesies. Jetline, Polokwane, South Africa. Close ).

Information needed.