White-rumped Swift

SCI Name:  Apus caffer
Protonym:  Cypselus Caffer Verz.Doubl.Zool.Mus.Berlin p.58
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Apodidae / Apus
Taxonomy Code:  whrswi1
Type Locality:  Kaffirland and Nubia, i.e. eastern Cape Province.
Author:  Lichtenstein, MHC
Publish Year:  1823
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).

cafer / caffer / caffra
Mod. L. Caffra or Caffer  South African  < Caffraria  Kaffirland  = South Africa (from the terms Kaffir, Caffre, or Caffer applied to certain indigenous peoples of that country  < Arabic kafir  infidel).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (= Tahiti) (Acrocephalus).
● Caffraria; ex “Caffre” of Levaillant 1796, pl. 6, and Falco vulturinus Daudin, 1800 (?syn. Aquila verreauxii).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Bay of Good Hope, Nootka Sound, Canada) (Colaptes).
● "57. MEROPS.  ...  cafer.  4. M. griseus, ani regione flava, cauda longissima.  Habitat in Æthiopia.  Inter pulchre delineatos icones animalium ultra 150, quas misit amicissimus J. Burmannus, visa est." (Linnaeus 1758) (Promerops).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Ceylon); ex “Merle hupé du Cap de Bonne Espérance” of Brisson 1760 (Pycnonotus).
● Caffraria; ex “Promépic” of Levaillant 1806 (syn. Trachyphonus vaillantii).
● "49. CORACIAS.  ...  caffra.  2. C. cærulea, remigibus margine exteriore luteis.  Habitat in Æthiopia. J. Burmannus.  Femina cærulescente-nigra est." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.; nom. dub.).