Long-tailed Widowbird

The Long-tailed Widowbird is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Long-tailed Widowbird (Euplectes progne) is a species of bird in the Ploceidae family. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zambia. References - * BirdLife International 2004. Euplectes progne. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 25 July 2007. The photo is of a Jackson's Widowbird. More

Distribution of Long-tailed widowbird in southern Africa, based on statistical smoothing of the records from first SA Bird Atlas Project (© Animal Demography unit, University of Cape Town; smoothing by Birgit Erni and Francesca Little). Colours range from dark blue (most common) through to yellow (least common). See here for the latest distribution from the SABAP2. More

Long-tailed Widowbird on dead vegetation - Male in breeding plumage Photographer More

The Long-tailed Widowbird is a Southern African bird that belongs to the Ploceidae bird family group which includes birds such as Weavers, Queleas, Windowbirds. The description for the Long-tailed Widowbird (Latin name Euplectes progne) can be found in the 7th Edition of the Roberts Birds of Southern Africa. The Euplectes progne can be quickly identified by its unique Roberts identification number of 832 and the detailed description of this bird is on page 1035. More

Aspects of the topic long-tailed widowbird are discussed in the following places at Britannica. Assorted References * runaway selection hypothesis behaviour (in runaway selection hypothesis (biology)) Evidence supporting this hypothesis has been found in several species. One of the most dramatic examples is the African long-tailed widowbird (Euplectes progne); the male possesses an extraordinarily long tail. More

Facts about long-tailed widowbird: runaway selection hypothesis behaviour, as discussed in runaway selection hypothesis (biology): = Evidence supporting this hypothesis has been found in several species. One of the most dramatic examples is the African long-tailed widowbird (Euplectes progne); the male possesses an extraordinarily long tail. This feature can be explained by the females’ preference for males with the longest tails. This preference can be demonstrated experimentally by artificially elongating the tails... More

Andersson's findings with long-tailed widowbirds which emphasised the importance of female choice for long tails; it is possible that this difference accounts for the differences in tail length between these species. My work clearly showed that male-male competition-and not just female choice-can lead to the evolution of conspicuous, sexually dimorphic ornaments. More