The red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea), also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is sometimes called "Africa's feathered locust" because it causes extensive damage to cereal crops – though its main food is seeds of annual grasses. It was named by Linnaeus in 1758, who considered it a bunting, but Ludwig Reichenbach assigned it in 1850 to the new genus Quelea. The name may derive from medieval Latin qualea, meaning "quail", linking the prodigious numbers of queleas to the hordes of quail that fed the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt. Three subspecies are recognised, with Quelea quelea quelea occurring roughly from Senegal to Chad, Quelea quelea aethiopica from Sudan to Somalia and Tanzania, and Quelea quelea lathamii from Gabon to Mozambique and South Africa.
