| African red-rumped swallow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cecropis melanocrissus emini, Amboseli National Park, Kenya | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Hirundinidae |
| Genus: | Cecropis |
| Species: | C. melanocrissus |
| Binomial name | |
| Cecropis melanocrissus Rüppell, 1845 | |
The African red-rumped swallow (Cecropis melanocrissus) is small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It is found in north tropical areas of Africa south of the Sahara.
The African red-rumped swallow was formally described and illustrated in 1845 by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell based on a specimen collected in the Tembien region of northern Ethiopia. He coined the binomial name Cecropis melanocrissus where the specific epithet combines the Latin melas, melanos meaning "black" with Modern Latin crissum meaning "vent". [1] [2] [3]
Four subspecies are recognised: [4]
The subspecies C. m. domicella was formerly treated as a separate species, the West African swallow, while the subspecies C. m. melanocrissus, C. m. kumboensis and C. m. emini were formerly placed in the red-rumped swallow C. daurica complex. The taxa were re-arranged based on differences in morphology and genetics. [4] As part of the rearrangement, the red-rumped swallow complex was additionally split into the European red-rumped swallow and the eastern red-rumped swallow. [4]
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