Overview of the discovery of the weavers

Abstract

There are 117 living species of weavers in the Ploceidae family. These were formally described over the period 1758 to 1990, but some weavers were known long before Linnaeus. The largest number of weaver species described per decade was in the 1880s (n=13) and 1890s (n=11). Most weaver species were described from Angola and South Africa (n=15 for both). Most weavers were described by Reichenow (n=10) and by Linnaeus (n=9). Where the collector is known, most weaver types were collected by Sir Andrew Smith (n=6) and Jean Perrein (both n=5). Most collectors were British (28) or German (n=17). Most weaver descriptions appeared in Ibis (n=10).