Order
Passeriformes
Family
Hirundinidae
Genus
Atticora
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

White-banded Swallow Atticora fasciata

Natalia Piland
Version: 1.0 — Published April 5, 2010

Systematics

Geographic Variation

There is a cline of decreasing size, from north to south, between populations in the northern and the southern parts of the range (Zimmer 1955).  Earlier authors had proposed subtle differences in plumage between northern and southern populations (e.g., southern populations are less purplish blue on the upperparts, with a slightly wider white breast band), but Zimmer was unable to confirm these distinctions. No subspecies of White-banded Swallow are recognized (Zimmer 1955, Turner and Rose 1989, Rose 2004).

Subspecies

Related Species

The White-banded Swallow was described as Hirundo fasciata by Gmelin in 1789;  the genus Atticora was proposed by Boie in 1844.  Recent investigations of swallow phylogenetics, based nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data, indicate that White-banded Swallow and Black-collared Swallow (Pygochelidon melanoleuca; formerly known as Atticora melanoleuca) both belong to the same major clade ("core martins") within the hirundines, but that they are not sister to one another (Winkler and Sheldon 1993, Sheldon et al. 1995). Rather, White-banded Swallow is basal to a clade that includes Black-capped Swallow (Atticora pileata; formerly Notiochelidon pileata) and White-thighed Swallow (Atticora tibialis; formerly Neochelidon tibialis). Black-collared Swallow, in contrast, is the sister species to Blue-and-white Swallow (Pygochelidon cyanoleuca).

Recommended Citation

Piland, N. (2010). White-banded Swallow (Atticora fasciata), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.whbswa2.01