| Cecropis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis rufula) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Hirundinidae |
| Subfamily: | Hirundininae |
| Genus: | Cecropis F. Boie, 1826 |
| Type species | |
| Hirundo capensis[1] J.F. Gmelin, 1789 | |
| Species | |
See text | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Cecropis is agenus of largeswallows found inAfrica and tropicalAsia. The red-rumped swallow's range also extends into southernEurope, and (in small numbers) into Australia. This genus is frequently subsumed into the larger genusHirundo.[2]
The swallow familyHirundinidae consists of 92 bird species which typically hunt insects in flight. The tworiver martins have long been recognised as very distinctive, and are placed in a separate subfamily, Pseudochelidoninae, leaving all other swallows and martins in the Hirundininae.DNA studies suggest that there are three major groupings within the Hirundininae subfamily, broadly correlating with the type of nest built.[3] The groups are the "core martins" including burrowing species like thesand martin, the "nest-adopters", with birds like thetree swallow which use natural cavities, and the "mud nest builders". TheCecropsis species construct a closed mud nest and therefore belong to the latter group. It is believed that the evolutionary sequence is from species that make open cup nests (Hirundo andPtyonoprogne), throughDelichon house martins with closed nests, toCecropis andPetrochelidon, which haveretort-like closed nests with an entrance tunnel.[4]
The genusCecropis was introduced by the German zoologistFriedrich Boie in 1826.[5] Thetype species was subsequently designated as thegreater striped swallow (Cecropis cucullata) by the Italian zoologistTommaso Salvadori in 1881.[6][7] The name of the genus is from theAncient GreekKekropis "Athenian woman".[8]
The nine species in the genus are:[9]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
_(31008773580).jpg) | Cecropis cucullata | Greater striped swallow | southern Africa, mainly in South Africa, Namibia and southern Zimbabwe. It is migratory wintering further north in Angola, Tanzania and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo. |
 | Cecropis rufula | European red-rumped swallow (split fromC. daurica) | south Europe and north Africa east to Iran, Pakistan and northwest India |
 | Cecropis daurica | Eastern red-rumped swallow (formerly red-rumped swallow before lump of striated swallowC. striolata and splits ofC. rufula andC. melanocrissus) | South and Southeast Asia to northeastern India and Taiwan |
| Cecropis melanocrissus | African red-rumped swallow (split fromC. daurica, includes West African swallowC. domicella) | Africa | |
 | Cecropis hyperythra | Sri Lanka swallow | Sri Lanka |
| Cecropis badia | Rufous-bellied swallow | Malay Peninsula | |
 | Cecropis abyssinica | Lesser striped swallow | Sub-Saharan Africa from Sierra Leone and southern Sudan south into eastern South Africa. |
_(30987147586).jpg) | Cecropis semirufa | Red-breasted swallow | Sahara from the Eastern Cape north to northern Namibia and southern Angola in the west and Mozambique in the east, with a disjunct range from Senegal south to northern Angola east to Uganda, south western Kenya and north western Tanzania |
 | Cecropis senegalensis | Mosque swallow | southern Mauritania and Senegal east to western South Sudan then south to Namibia, northern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and north eastern South Africa. |
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