Quelea Quelea Quelea is a genus of small passerine birds that belongs to the weaver family Ploceidae, confined to Africa. These are small-sized, sparrow- or finch-like gregarious birds, with bills adapted to eating seeds. Queleas may be nomadic over vast ranges; the red-billed quelea is said to be the most numerous bird species in the world. There are three species: Based on recent DNA-analysis, the red-billed quelea is sister to a clade that consist of both remaining species of the genus "Quelea", namely "Q. cardinalis" and "Q. erythrops". The genus belongs to the group of true weavers (subfamily Ploceinae), and is
Red-headed quelea on recent DNA-analysis, the red-headed quelea forms a clade with the cardinal quelea ("Q. cardinalis"), and this clade is sister to the red-billed quelea "Q. quelea". The genus "Quelea" belongs to the group of true weavers (subfamily Ploceinae), and is most related to "Foudia", a genus of six or seven species that occur on the islands of the western Indian ocean. This clade is sister to the Asian species of the genus "Ploceus". The following tree represents current insight of the relationships between the species of "Quelea", and their closest relatives. Red-headed quelea The red-headed quelea ("Quelea erythrops") is a