Order
Passeriformes
Family
Hirundinidae
Genus
Petrochelidon
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Chestnut-collared Swallow Petrochelidon rufocollaris

I. S. Malekan
Version: 1.0 — Published June 23, 2010

Systematics

Geographic Variation

Two subspecies of Chestnut-collared Swallow are recognized:

aequatorialis Chapman 1924; type locality Alamor, Loja, Ecuador. Occurs in southwestern Ecuador

rufocollaris (Peale 1848); type locality "near Callao," Lima, Peru. Occurs on the coast of Peru.

Ecuadorian aequatorialis is similar to nominate rufocollaris but is described as "smaller and with the auburn or chestnut areas of the lower parts and sides of the head deeper and more extensive" (Chapman 1924).

Subspecies

Related Species

Described as Hirundo rufocollaris by Peale in 1848, but later classified in the genus Petrochelidon by most authors.

The species rufocollaris was recognized as distinct by most early authorities (e.g. Chapman 1924), but was considered by Hellmayr (1935) as only a subspecies of the Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva). Hellmayr's classification was followed for many decades (e.g. Zimmer 1955, Peters 1960, Meyer de Schauensee 1966). Ridgely and Tudor (1989), however, suggested that rufocollaris should be recognized as a separate species, based on the "rather striking morphological differences" and on differences in the shape of the nest between rufocollaris and fulva. A phylogenetic investigation of fulva (sensu lato), based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the cytochrome b gene, shows that rufocollaris "is the outgroup to the northern populations of cave swallows [fulva]" (Kirchman et al. 2000).  This is consistent with the recognition of rufocollaris as a species.

Recommended Citation

Malekan, I. S. (2010). Chestnut-collared Swallow (Petrochelidon rufocollaris), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.chcswa2.01