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Information about Apodidae

Swifts
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Common Swift, Apus apus
Note wing shape different from swallows

Common Swift, Apus apus
Note wing shape different from swallows
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Apodiformes
Family:Apodidae
Hartert, 1897
Genera


Nearly 20, see text.


The swifts are birds superficially similar to swallows but are actually not closely related to those passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they formerly shared with the hummingbirds. The treeswifts are closely related to the true swifts, but form a separate family, the Hemiprocnidae.

The resemblances between the swifts and swallows are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles based on catching insects in flight.

The family scientific name comes from the Ancient Greek απους, apous, meaning "without feet", since swifts have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead on vertical surfaces. The tradition of depicting swifts without feet continued into the Middle Ages, as seen in the heraldic martlet.

Swifts are the most aerial of birds and some, like the Common Swift, even sleep and mate on the wing. Larger species, such as White-throated Needletail, are amongst the fastest flyers in the animal kingdom. One group, the Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets have developed a form of echolocation for navigating through dark cave systems where they roost. One species, Aerodramus papuensis has recently been discovered to use this navigation at night outside its cave roost also.

Like swallows and martins, the swifts of temperate regions are strongly migratory and winter in the tropics.

Many swifts have a characteristic shape, with a short forked tail and very long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang. The flight of some species is characterised by a distinctive "flicking" action quite different from swallows. Swifts range in size from the Pygmy Swiftlet (Collocalia troglodytes), which weighs 5.4 g and measures 9 cm (3.7 inches) long, to the Purple Needletail (Hirundapus celebensis), which weighs 184 g (6.5 oz) and measures 25 cm (10 inches) long.

The nest of many species is glued to a vertical surface with saliva, and the genus Aerodramus use only that substance, which is the basis for bird's nest soup.

Systematics and evolution

Swifts and treeswifts have long been considered to be relatives of the hummingbirds, a judgement corroborated by the discovery of the Jungornithidae, which were apparently swift-like hummingbird relatives, and of primitive hummingbirds such as Eurotrochilus. Traditional taxonomies place the hummingbird family (Trochilidae) in the same order as the swifts; the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy places them in a new order, Trochiliformes, which forms a superorder with the swifts and treeswifts (and no other birds).

The taxonomy of the swifts is in general complicated, with genus and species boundaries widely disputed, especially amongst the swiftlets. Analysis of behavior and vocalizations is marred by common parallel evolution, while analyses of different morphological traits and of various DNA sequences have yielded equivocal and partly contradictory results (Thomassen et al., 2005).

The Apodiformes diversified during the Eocene, at the end of which the extant families were present; fossil genera are known from all over temperate Europe, between today's Denmark and France, such as the primitive Scaniacypselus (Early - Middle Eocene) and the more modern Procypseloides (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene - Early Miocene). A prehistoric genus sometimes assigned to the swifts, Primapus (Early Eocene of England), might also be a more distant ancestor.

Taxonomic list of Apodidae

Tribe Cypseloidini Tribe Collocalini - swiftlets Tribe Chaeturini - needletails Tribe Apodini - typical swifts

References

  • Chantler, Phil & Driessens, Gerald (2000): Swifts : a guide to the swifts and treeswifts of the world. Pica Press, Mountfield, East Sussex. ISBN 1-873403-83-6
  • Thomassen, Henri A.; Tex, Robert-Jan; de Bakker, Merijn A.G. & Povel, G. David E. (2005): Phylogenetic relationships amongst swifts and swiftlets: A multi locus approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37(1): 264-277. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.010 (HTML abstract)

External link

A. apus

Binomial name
Apus apus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Swift range


The Common Swift (Apus apus
..... Click the link for more information.
Hirundinidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

Many, see text.

The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Apodiformes
Peters, 1940

Families

Apodidae
Hemiprocnidae
Trochilidae
Fossil forms, see text

Traditionally, the bird order Apodiformes
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Ernst Johann Otto Hartert (October 29, 1859 - November 11, 1933) was a German ornithologist and oologist. Hartert was born in Hamburg. He was employed by Lionel Walter Rothschild as ornithological curator of his private museum at Tring from 1892 to 1929.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s  1870s  1880s  - 1890s -  1900s  1910s  1920s
1894 1895 1896 - 1897 - 1898 1899 1900

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Hirundinidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

Many, see text.

The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding.
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Passeriformes
Linnaeus, 1758

Suborders
  • Acanthisitti
  • Tyranni
  • Passeri


A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. More than half of all species of bird are passerines.
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Trochilidae
Vigors, 1825

Subfamilies

Phaethornithinae
Trochilinae

For a taxonomic list of genera, see:
  • List of hummingbirds in taxonomic order
For an alphabetic species list, see:
  • Alphabetic species list



..... Click the link for more information.
Hemiprocnidae
Oberholser, 1906

Genus: Hemiprocne
Nitzsch, 1829

Species

See text.
The tree swifts or crested swifts are aerial near passerine birds, closely related to the true swifts.
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In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches[1].
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Insecta
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders
Subclass Apterygota
* Archaeognatha (bristletails)
* Thysanura (silverfish)
Subclass Pterygota
* Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic)

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Ancient Greek refers to the second stage in the history of the Greek language[1] as it existed during the Archaic (9th–6th centuries BC) and Classical (5th–4th centuries BC) periods in Greece.
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Note that the British version of the F4F Wildcat was initially called the Martlet.


A martlet is a mythical bird often used in heraldry. A martlet looks similar to the swallow, but has short tufts of feathers in the place of legs.
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A. apus

Binomial name
Apus apus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Swift range


The Common Swift (Apus apus
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H. caudacutus

Binomial name
Hirundapus caudacutus
(Latham, 1802)

The White-throated Needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus), also known as Needle-tailed Swift or
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Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets are birds contained within the four genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. They form the Collocaliini tribe within the swift family Apodidae.
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Echolocation, also called Biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several mammals such as bats (although not all species), dolphins and whales (though not baleen whales).
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Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Migrations include movements of varied distances made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather.
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boomerang is a simple wooden implement used for various purposes. It is primarily associated with Australian Aborigines, but other forms are found amongst peoples of North East Africa, Arizona and southern California Native Americans and in India.
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H. celebensis

Binomial name
Hirundapus celebensis
(Sclater, 1865)

The Purple Needletail is the largest swift found in the Old World.
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Aerodramus
Oberholser, 1906

species

see text

Aerodramus is a genus of swiftlets, birds in the Collocaliini tribe of the swift family.
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Bird's nest soup is a delicacy[1] in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup.
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Trochilidae
Vigors, 1825

Subfamilies

Phaethornithinae
Trochilinae

For a taxonomic list of genera, see:
  • List of hummingbirds in taxonomic order
For an alphabetic species list, see:
  • Alphabetic species list



..... Click the link for more information.
The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a radical bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s (Sibley & Ahlquist 1990).
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Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets are birds contained within the four genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. They form the Collocaliini tribe within the swift family Apodidae.
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