Amandava
Male red avadavat (Amandava amandava)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Estrildidae
Genus: Amandava
Blyth, 1836
Type species
Amandava punctata = Fringilla amandava[1]
Blyth, 1836
Species

A. amandava
A. formosa
A. subflava

Amandava is a genus of the estrildid finches. These birds are found in dense grass or scrub in Africa and South Asia. They are gregarious seed-eaters with short, red bills. In earlier literature, amadavat and amidavad have been used.[2] The name amandava, along with amadavat and amidavad are all corruptions of Ahmedabad, a city in Gujarat, India from where the first few specimens of the red munia Amandava amandava were obtained.[3]

Taxonomy

The genus Amandava was introduced in 1836 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth for the red avadavat. The genus in mentioned in a footnote to a page of an edition of Gilbert White's The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne that Blythe edited.[4] The name is derived by tautomony with the binomial name Fringilla amandava introduced for the red avadavat by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The word amandava is a corruption of Ahmedabad, a city in the Indian state of Gujarat.[5] The genus Amandava is sister to the genus Amadiva containing two African finches.[6]

Species

The genus contains three species:[7]

ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Red avadavat or red muniaAmandava amandavaBangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan
Green avadavat or green muniaAmandava formosacentral India, around southern Rajasthan, specifically around Oriya village, central Uttar Pradesh, southern Bihar and West Bengal
Orange-breasted waxbill or zebra waxbillAmandava subflavasouth of the Sahara in Africa


The two avadavats, which are very closely related, are found in tropical South Asia, and the waxbill in Africa. Various members of this genus are sometimes placed in Sporaeginthus.

References

  1. ↑ "Estrildidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ↑ Newton, A. & H. Gadow. 1896. A dictionary of birds. Black.London. p.11
  3. ↑ Pittie, Aasheesh (2004). "A dictionary of scientific bird names originating from the Indian region". Buceros. 9 (2): 1–30.
  4. ↑ White, Gilbert (1836). Blyth, Edward (ed.). The Natural History of Selborne, with its Antiquites; Naturalist's Calendar, &c. London: Orr and Smith. p. 44, Footnote.
  5. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. ↑ Olsson, Urban; Alström, Per (2020). "A comprehensive phylogeny and taxonomic evaluation of the waxbills (Aves: Estrildidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 146: 106757. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106757. PMID 32028027.
  7. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  • Clement, Harris and Davis, Finches and Sparrows ISBN 0-7136-8017-2
  • Media related to Amandava at Wikimedia Commons
  • Data related to Amandava at Wikispecies
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