Contents

Hirundo

Eukaryota

Animalia

Chordata

Aves

Passeriformes

Hirundinidae

Hirundininae

Hirundo
Linnaeus, 1758

The bird genus Hirundo is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). The genus name is Latin for a swallow.^[1] These are the typical swallows, including the widespread barn swallow. Many of this group have blue backs, red on the face and sometimes the rump or nape, and whitish or rufous underparts. With fifteen species this genus is the largest in its family.

The genus Hirundo was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.^[2] The genus name is the Latin word for a swallow.^[3] Linnaeus included eight species in the genus and of these William Swainson designated the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) as the type species.^[4][5]

The genus contains fifteen species. The linear sequence is based on two molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2005 and 2018.^[6][7][8]

Distribution

Black-and-rufous swallow

Hirundo nigrorufa

Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.

Blue swallow

Hirundo atrocaerulea

from South Africa to Tanzania

Pied-winged swallow

Hirundo leucosoma

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

White-tailed swallow

Hirundo megaensis

Oromia, Ethiopia.

Pearl-breasted swallow

Hirundo dimidiata

southern Africa from Angola, southern Congo and Tanzania southwards.

Pacific swallow

Hirundo tahitica

southern Asia and the islands of the south Pacific.

Hill swallow

Hirundo domicola

southern India and Sri Lanka.

Welcome swallow

Hirundo neoxena

Australia and nearby islands

White-throated swallow

Hirundo albigularis

southern Africa from Angola and Zambia southwards to the Cape in South Africa.

Wire-tailed swallow

Hirundo smithii

southern Africa and southeastern Asia.

White-bibbed swallow

Hirundo nigrita

Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

Barn swallow

Hirundo rustica

North and South America, most of Africa aside from the Sahara Desert, most of Eurasia aside from the northern Siberia, and northern Australia.

Angola swallow

Hirundo angolensis

Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Red-chested swallow

Hirundo lucida

West Africa, the Congo Basin and Ethiopia.

Ethiopian swallow

Hirundo aethiopica

Benin to Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Israel, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda

There are at least two fossil species included in this genus:

• †Hirundo gracilis (late Miocene of Polgardi, Hungary)^[9]
• †Hirundo major (Pliocene of Csarnota, Hungary)^[9]

Some authorities, either presently or formerly, recognize several additional species as belonging to the genus Hirundo including:

• West African swallow (asHirundo domicella)^[10]

All of the species are found in the Old World, although one, the barn swallow, is cosmopolitan, also occurring in the Americas.

• 
  H. rustica foraging
• 
  Windows in the tail of H. rustica
• 
  Tail streamers of H. smithii filifera
• 
  Nest of H. rustica
• 
  Clutch of H. rustica gutturalis
• 
  Clutch of H. smithii

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