Long-tailed Paradise Whydah
Vidua paradisaea (Linnaeus, 1758)
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.
Long-tailed paradise-whydah (Vidua paradisaea) male, Chobe National Park, Botswana
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The long-tailed paradise whydah or eastern paradise whydah (Vidua paradisaea) is a bird in the family Viduidae of the order Passeriformes. It is a small passerine with a short, stubby bill, found across eastern and southern Africa from Ethiopia south to South Africa and west to Angola. It is mostly granivorous, and feed on seeds that have ripened and fallen on the ground. The ability to distinguish between males and females is quite difficult unless it is breeding season. During this time, the males moult into breeding plumage where they have a distinctive long tail. This can be up to three times longer than its own body or even more. Males are able to mimic songs where females can use that to discover their mate. However, there are some cases where females don't use songs to choose their mate but they use either male characteristics like plumage or they can have a shortage of options with song mimicry. Paradise whydahs are brood parasites.
Wikipedia contributors, Long-tailed paradise whydah; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:51:01.909753+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Vidua paradisaea (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Long-tailed Paradise Whydah
- 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 paradisaea (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 |
| Vidua nigeriae (Alexander, 1908) | ViduidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Broad-tailed Paradise WhydahVidua obtusa (Chapin, 1922) | 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=563672 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.
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:5BDB6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.