The bird genus Hirundo is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). The genus name is Latin for a swallow. 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.
Taxonomy
The genus Hirundo was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The genus name is the Latin word for a swallow. Linnaeus included eight species in the genus and of these William Swainson designated the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) as the type species.
The genus contains sixteen species. The linear sequence is based on two molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2005 and 2018.
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Common name
Scientific name
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 javanica
Southern Asia and the islands of the south Pacific.
Tahiti swallow
Hirundo tahitica
Islands of Moorea and Tahiti in French Polynesia
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...
