Spermestes

Spermestes is a genus of small seed-eating birds in the family Estrildidae. They are distributed across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Spermestes
Bronze mannikin (Spermestes cucullata)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Estrildidae
Genus:	Spermestes Swainson, 1837
Type species
Spermestes cucullata bronze mannikin Swainson, 1837
Species
See text

Taxonomy

The genus Spermestes was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson to accommodate the bronze mannikin.^[1] The name combines the Ancient Greek sperma meaning "seed" and -estēs meaning "-eater".^[2]

Based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2020, this genus was resurrected for a clade of species that were formerly assigned to the genera Lonchura and Odontospiza.^[3][4]

Species

The genus contains four species:^[4]

Genus Spermestes – Swainson, 1837 – four species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Grey-headed silverbill	Spermestes griseicapilla (Delacour, 1943)	eastern Africa	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Bronze mannikin	Spermestes cucullata Swainson, 1837 Two subspecies S. c. cucullata Swainson, 1837 S. c. scutata Heuglin, 1863	Africa south of the Sahara Desert	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Magpie mannikin	Spermestes fringilloides (Lafresnaye, 1835)	Sub-Saharan Africa	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Black-and-white mannikin	Spermestes bicolor (Fraser, 1843) Four subspecies S. b. bicolor (Fraser, 1843) S. b. poensis (Fraser, 1843) S. b. woltersi (Schouteden, 1956) S. b. nigriceps Cassin, 1852	African tropical rainforest	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC