Chaetura

Chaetura
Chimney swift Chaetura pelagica
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Strisores
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Apodidae
Subfamily:	Apodinae
Genus:	Chaetura Stephens, 1826
Species
11 living, see text

Chaetura is a genus of needletail swifts found in the Americas. Although they resemble swallows, the two are not at all closely related; this is instead a result of convergent evolution. Some members of Chaetura are long-distance migrants, while others are year-round residents.

The genus name is derived from the Greek khaite, for long flowing hair, and oura, for tail, referring to the stiff feathers projecting from the end of the tail.[1]

• Grey-rumped swift – Chaetura cinereiventris
• Band-rumped swift – Chaetura spinicaudus
• Lesser Antillean swift – Chaetura martinica
• Costa Rican swift – Chaetura fumosa
• Pale-rumped swift – Chaetura egregia
• Chimney swift – Chaetura pelagica
• Vaux's swift – Chaetura vauxi
• Chapman's swift – Chaetura chapmani
• Ashy-tailed swift – Chaetura andrei
• Sick's swift – Chaetura meridionalis
• Short-tailed swift – Chaetura brachyura

A fossil species, Chaetura baconica, was described from Late Miocene deposits of Hungary.[2]

References

1. Jobling, James A. (1991). A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 0-19-854634-3.
2. Boev, Zlatozar (2000). "The Presence of Apus baranensis Janossy, 1977, (Aves: Apodidae) in the Late Pliocene of Bulgaria". Acta Zoologica Bulgarica. 52 (2): 43–52.