释义 |
quelea /ˈkwiːlɪə /nounA brownish weaver bird found in Africa, the male of which has either a black face or a red head. Also called dioch.- Genus Quelea, family Ploceidae: three species, in particular the red-billed quelea (Q. quelea), which occurs in huge numbers and is an important pest of crops.
The ngosha (Quelea quelea) is a small but very numerous granivorous bird that sweeps over the sky in flocks like small clouds and descends on grain fields to feast....- The regular loss of rice and other grain crops to large flocks of quelea led Nigeria's government to begin spraying the area with chemical control agents whose long-term effects on other life forms have not been determined.
- However queleas are different because plumage does not signal quality in this species.
Origin Modern Latin, perhaps from medieval Latin qualea 'quail'. |