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

^ Jobling, James A. (1991). A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 0-19-854634-3.
^ 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.

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[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.

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