Fox's weaver

Fox's weaver
Specimen in Nairobi National Museum
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Ploceidae
Genus:	Ploceus
Species:	P. spekeoides
Binomial name
Ploceus spekeoides C. H. B. Grant & Mackworth-Praed, 1947

Fox's weaver (Ploceus spekeoides) is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is endemic to Uganda.

Its natural habitats are moist savanna, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, and swamps. It is threatened by habitat loss.

A specimen was collected in 1913 from Teso in central Uganda. It was gifted to the British Museum of Natural History in 1923 and identified as a distinct species closely related to Ploceus spekei by C.H.B. Grant and Mackworth-Praed in 1947. The specimen collector was recorded as being T.V. Fox^[2] however some have suggested that it referred to Harold Munro Fox. There was however a Thomas Vernon Fox (20 November 1878 - 13 March 1910) in the Ugandan administrative services between 1908-1918 who collected specimens of birds from the region.^[3]

References

1. BirdLife International (2017). "Ploceus spekeoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22718933A118849332. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22718933A118849332.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. Grant, C.H.B.; Mackworth-Praed, C.W. (1947). "A new species of weaver from Uganda". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 68: 7-https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40587771.
3. Coote, J.M. (September 1956). "The Kivu Mission, 1919–10". The Uganda Journal. 20 (2): 108.