Vidua nigeriae (Alexander, 1908)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The quailfinch indigobird (Vidua nigeriae) is a small songbird. It is a resident breeding bird in The Gambia, Nigeria and Cameroon. It occurs in isolated localities, especially on river flood plains.
It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the variable indigobird, Vidua funerea.
It is a brood parasite which lays its eggs in the nest of the African quailfinch, Ortygospiza atricollis, a slightly unusual host since it is only a distant relative to the firefinches parasitised by most indigobirds. It does not destroy the host's egg, but its own eggs are added to those already present.
The adult male quailfinch indigobird has greenish-black plumage, and the female resembles a female house sparrow, with streaked brown upperparts, buff underparts and a whitish supercilium.
Many of the indigobirds are very similar in appearance, with the males difficult to separate in the field, and the young and females near impossible. A helpful pointer is the association with the host species, the quailfinch.
The diet of this species consists of seeds and grain.
Wikipedia contributors, Quailfinch indigobird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T14:11:13.167178+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Vidua nigeriae (Alexander, 1908)
- Name authority
- (Alexander, 1908)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Viduidae
- Genus
- Vidua
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyViduidae
- genusVidua Cuvier, 1816
- speciesVidua nigeriae (Alexander, 1908)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Vidua. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Vidua maryae Payne, 1982 | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sahel Paradise WhydahVidua orientalis Heuglin, 1870 | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Purple IndigobirdVidua purpurascens (Reichenow, 1883) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Exclamatory Paradise WhydahVidua interjecta (Grote, 1922) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pin-tailed WhydahVidua macroura (Pallas, 1764) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Village IndigobirdVidua chalybeata (Statius Muller, 1776) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Togo Paradise WhydahVidua togoensis (Grote, 1923) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Zambezi IndigobirdVidua codringtoni (Neave, 1907) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Broad-tailed Paradise WhydahVidua obtusa (Chapin, 1922) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Long-tailed Paradise WhydahVidua paradisaea (Linnaeus, 1758) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Jambandu IndigobirdVidua raricola Payne, 1982 | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Shaft-tailed WhydahVidua regia (Linnaeus, 1766) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=916179 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:5BDB3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.