Amandava

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.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4] The genus Amandava is sister to the genus Amadiva containing two African finches.[5]
Species

The genus contains three species:[6]

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Red avadavat or red munia	Amandava amandava	Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan
	Green avadavat or green munia	Amandava formosa	central India, around southern Rajasthan, specifically around Oriya village, central Uttar Pradesh, southern Bihar and West Bengal
	Orange-breasted waxbill or zebra waxbill	Amandava subflava	south 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

Newton, A. & H. Gadow. 1896. A dictionary of birds. Black.London. p.11
Pittie, Aasheesh (2004). "A dictionary of scientific bird names originating from the Indian region". Buceros. 9 (2): 1–30.
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.
Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
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.

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

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