Locustfinch

About the Locustfinch

The locust finch or locustfinch (Paludipasser locustella) is a species of waxbill found in south-central and south-eastern Africa. It is the only species in the genus Paludipasser. It is sometimes placed in the genus Ortygospiza.

The locust finch was first formally described in 1909 by the English naturalist and entomologist Sheffield Airey Neave with the type, a subadult male, being collected at the Upper Luansenshi River, north-east of Bangweolo, Northern Rhodesia, i.e. Zambia. Neave placed it in the monotypic genus Paludipasser within the waxbill family Estrildidae, but it has also been placed in the same genus as the quailfinch, Ortygospiza.

The locust finch is similar to the quailfinch but males have a red face, throat and breast with rufous wings and black body with white spots but with a plain back belly. The females also have rufous wings and lack the white face markings of female quailfinches while immatures have black and brown streaks on the upperparts and browner underparts than females. This species has a body which is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) in length.

It is mainly native to the Uele River basin, Zambia... Wikipedia →