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
Cardinal quelea on its head. Gustav Hartlaub was the first to described the cardinal quelea, giving it the scientific name "Hyphantica cardinalis" in 1880, based on specimens that were collected by Emin Pasha near Lado in South-Sudan during 1879. In 1951, Hans von Boetticher regarded the cardinal quelea and red-headed quelea sufficiently different from the red-billed quelea to create a new genus "Queleopsis". Its name in Swahili is "kwelea kidari-chekundu". Molecular phylogeny indicates that ancestors of the quelea species might have originated in India and dispersed to Africa. Based on more recent DNA-analysis, the red-headed quelea forms a clade with the cardinal