Madagascar Swift

SCI Name:  Apus balstoni
Protonym:  Cypselus balstoni Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1879) (1879), Pt4 p.770
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Apodidae / Apus
Taxonomy Code:  madswi1
Type Locality:  Betsileo, Madagascar.
Author:  Bartlett, E
Publish Year:  1880
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

APUS
(Apodidae; Ϯ Common Swift A. apus) Specific name Hirundo apus Linnaeus, 1758; "APVS. BELLON. Alæ arcuatæ, ultra caudam sedentis extensæ. Nares ellipticæ, duplicatura in exteriore cantho instructæ. Mandibula utraque apice deflexa. Digiti quatuor, omnes anticis.  HIRVNDO Apus. LINN." (Scopoli 1777); “Three generic names have been used at various times for the Swifts. Apus Scopoli  ...  is preoccupied by Apos, introduced by the same author on p. 404 for a genus of Crustaceans. As these names are identical except for the interchange of “o” and “u,” the earlier one only is valid. The second is Micropus Meyer & Wolf [1810]  ...  This has been rejected by Sharpe (Hand-List, ii. 1900, p. 95), as the same name was applied to a genus of plants by Linnaeus, but under the present rules this no longer renders a name invalid for zoology, and Micropus should therefore be used. The third name, Cypselus Illiger, 1811, was used in the 1^st edition of the List and by most of the earlier authors” (BOU 1915); "Apus Scopoli, Intr. Hist. Nat., 1777, p. 483. Type, by tautonymy, Hirundo apus Linné.¹   ...   ¹ Not preoccupied by Apos Scopoli, 1777, Crustacea.  Replaces Cypselus Illiger, 1811, of Sharpe's Hand-list and Micropus Meyer and Wolf, 1810, of many recent authors." (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 244).   
Synon. Apodium, Brachypus, Brevipes, Caffrapus, Colletoptera, Cypselus, Drepanis, Epicypselus, Micropus, Tetragonopyga.

apus
● L. apus, apodis  swift, type of swallow said to have no feet  < Gr. απους apous, αποδος apodos  bird of the swallow kind  < negative prefix α- a- ; πους pous, ποδος podos  foot; "101. HIRUNDO.  ...  Apus.  5. H. nigricans, gula alba, digitis omnibus quatuor anticis.  Hirundo tota nigra, gula albicante. Fn. svec. 246.  Hirundo Apus. Bell. av. 100. a. Gesn. av. 166. Aldr. orn. l. 17. c. 10. Jonst. av. 119. t. 42. Will. orn. 156. t. 39. Raj. av. 72. n. 4. Alb. av. 2. p. 51. t. 55. Frisch. av. 3. t. 17. f. 1.  Habitat in Europæ altis.  In terram decidens non evolat; capitur hamo Cicadæ inserto. Bell. 16." (Linnaeus 1758) (Apus).
● Gr. απους apous, αποδος apodos  bird of the swallow kind; ex “Becque Fleur” of Levaillant 1803, pl. 134 (syn. Anthoscopus minutus).

balstoni
● Richard James Balston (1839-1916) English industrialist (W & R Balston Ltd, papermakers), patron of natural history (Apus, syn. Crypturellus undulatus yapura).
● William Edward Balston (1848-1918) English industrialist (W & R Balston Ltd, papermakers), patron of natural history (subsp. Sericornis frontalis, subsp. Zosterops luteus).

SUBSPECIES

Madagascar Swift (balstoni)
SCI Name: Apus balstoni balstoni
balstoni
● Richard James Balston (1839-1916) English industrialist (W & R Balston Ltd, papermakers), patron of natural history (Apus, syn. Crypturellus undulatus yapura).
● William Edward Balston (1848-1918) English industrialist (W & R Balston Ltd, papermakers), patron of natural history (subsp. Sericornis frontalis, subsp. Zosterops luteus).

Madagascar Swift (mayottensis)
SCI Name: Apus balstoni mayottensis
mayottensis
Mayotte, Comoro Is.