Chaetura

Chaetura
Chimney swift Chaetura pelagica
Scientific classification
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.

Taxonomy

The genus Chaetura was introduced in 1826 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens who listed several species in the genus but did not specify a type. ^[1] In 1829 the English zoologist William Swainson selected the type as Chaetura pelasgia Stevens (sic). This is a junior synonym of Hirundo pelagica Linnaeus the chimney swift. ^{[2] [3]} The genus name combines the Ancient Greek χαιτη/khaitē meaning "long flowing hair" with ουρα/oura meaning "tail". ^[4]

Species

The genus contains 11 species: ^[5]

• Grey-rumped swift, Chaetura cinereiventris – widespread in South America
• Band-rumped swift, Chaetura spinicaudus – Panama to central Brazil
• Lesser Antillean swift, Chaetura martinica – Lesser Antilles
• Costa Rican swift, Chaetura fumosa – Costa Rica, Panama and north Colombia
• Pale-rumped swift, Chaetura egregia – west Amazonia
• Chimney swift, Chaetura pelagica – breeds in central south, southeast Canada and central, east USA; winters west South America
• Vaux's swift, Chaetura vauxi – west Canada to north South America
• Chapman's swift, Chaetura chapmani – Panama to northeast Brazil and west Amazonia
• Ashy-tailed swift, Chaetura andrei – east Venezuela
• Sick's swift, Chaetura meridionalis – breeds south Brazil to east Bolivia, Paraguay and north Argentina; winters north South America and Panama
• Short-tailed swift, Chaetura brachyura – Panama through Amazonia

A fossil species, Chaetura baconica, was described from Late Miocene deposits of Hungary. ^[6]

References

1. Stephens, James Francis (1826). Shaw, George (ed.). General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol. 13, Part 2. London: Kearsley et al. p. 76.
2. Swainson, William (1831). Zoological illustrations, or, Original figures and descriptions of new, rare, or interesting animals. Series 2. Vol. 1. London: Baldwin, Cradock. Plate 42 text.
3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 235.
4. Jobling, James A. "Chaetura". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Owlet-nightjars, treeswifts & swifts". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
6. 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.