Plume-toed swiftlet

The plume-toed swiftlet (Collocalia affinis) is a small bird in the swift family Apodidae. It is found on some eastern Indian Ocean islands, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and lowland Borneo.

Plume-toed swiftlet
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Apodidae
Genus: Collocalia
Species:
C. affinis
Binomial name
Collocalia affinis
Beavan, 1867
Synonyms

Collocalia esculenta affinis

Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It was previously considered a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet.

Plume-toed swiftlets entering and exiting their nests

Taxonomy

The plume-toed swiftlet was described by the English ornithologist Robert Cecil Beavan in 1867 and given current binomial name Collocalia affinis. The type locality is Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.[1][2] The specific epithet affinis is Latin for "related" or "applied".[3] The plume-toed swiftlet was previously treated as a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet but was promoted to species status based on the results of a detailed analysis of the swiftlets in the genus Collocalia published in 2017.[4][5]

There are five subspecies:[5]

Plume-toed swiftlet leaving its nest

Description

The plume-toed swiftlet is 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) in length with a square tail.[6] The back and upper surface of the wings are uniformly dark greenish-blue with a moderate gloss. The throat and upper breast are dark grey merging into large greyish chevrons over the lower breast and flanks, usually becoming white over the belly. There is a tuft of small feathers on the hallux, the rear facing toe. This species lacks a pale contrasting rump and has no white spots on the inner webs of the tail feathers.[4]

References
  1. Beavan, Robert Cecil (1867). "The avifauna of the Andaman Islands". Ibis. Series 2. 3: 314–334 [318]. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1867.tb06434.x.
  2. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 229.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Rheindt, Frank E.; Christidis, Les; Norman, Janette A.; Eaton, James A.; Sadanandan, Keren R.; Schodde, Richard (2017). "Speciation in Indo-Pacific swiftlets (Aves: Apodidae): integrating molecular and phenotypic data for a new provisional taxonomy of the Collocalia esculenta complex". Zootaxa. 4250 (5): 401–433. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4250.5.1.
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Owlet-nightjars, treeswifts & swifts". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  6. Chantler, P.; Boesman, P. (2017). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Glossy Swiftlet (Collocalia esculenta)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
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