Long-tailed Widowbird
Euplectes progne (Boddaert, 1783)
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 long-tailed widowbird (Euplectes progne) is a species of bird in the weaver family Ploceidae. The species is found in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Eswatini, and Zambia. The long-tailed widowbird is a medium-sized bird and one of the most common in the territories it inhabits. Adult breeding males are almost entirely black with orange and white shoulders ("epaulets"), long, wide tails, and a bluish white bill. Females are rather inconspicuous, their feathers streaked tawny and black with pale patches on the chest, breast and back, narrow tail feathers, and horn-coloured bills. When flying, male long-tailed widowbirds are readily visible due to their extremely long tails. Between six and eight of their twelve tail feathers are approximately half a metre (approximately 20 inches) long. The tail during flight display is expanded vertically into a deep, long keel below the male as he flies with slow wingbeats 0.5 to 2 metres (20 to 78 inches) above his territory.
Wikipedia contributors, Long-tailed widowbird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:49:31.272430+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Euplectes progne (Boddaert, 1783)
- Name authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Common name
- Long-tailed Widowbird
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Ploceidae
- Genus
- Euplectes
- 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
- familyPloceidae Sundevall, 1836
- genusEuplectes Swainson, 1829
- speciesEuplectes progne (Boddaert, 1783)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Euplectes. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Red-collared WidowbirdEuplectes ardens (Boddaert, 1783) | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black BishopEuplectes gierowii Cabanis, 1880 | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-winged Red BishopEuplectes hordeaceus (Linnaeus, 1758) | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Montane WidowbirdEuplectes psammacromius (Reichenow, 1900) | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Euplectes macroura (Gmelin, 1789) | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Zanzibar Red BishopEuplectes nigroventris Cassin, 1848 | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red BishopEuplectes orix (Linnaeus, 1758) | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-winged WidowbirdEuplectes albonotatus (Cassin, 1848) | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow BishopEuplectes capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) | PloceidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Northern Red BishopEuplectes franciscanus (Isert, 1789) | PloceidaeChordata | 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=560047 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:6HCYD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.