Wire-tailed Swallow

SCI Name:  Hirundo smithii
Protonym:  Hirundo Smithii Narr.Exped.Zaire[Tuckey] p.407
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Hirundinidae / Hirundo
Taxonomy Code:  witswa1
Type Locality:  Chisalla Island, Congo.
Author:  Leach
Publish Year:  1818
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HIRUNDO
(Hirundinidae; Ϯ Barn Swallow H. rustica) L. hirundo, hirundinis  swallow; "101. HIRUNDO.  Rostrum minimum, incurvum, subulatum, basi depressum.  Rictus capite amplius." (Linnaeus 1758). “The type of this Linnean genus has always been a somewhat difficult question to decide. The genus contains eight species, of which the first-named is “rustica,” the Swallow, and this was made the type of the genus by Gray [1840] ...  Stejneger (Proc. U. S. National Mus. v. 1883, p. 31) first drew attention to the fact that Forster [1817] ...  used urbica (House-Martin) in conjunction with Hirundo, and rustica (Swallow) with Chelidon, a genus there first named, and he considered this to constitute a designation of the type by Forster ...  After careful consideration of the matter, the Committee are of opinion that Forster’s use of Hirundo in conjunction with urbica hardly constitutes designation as understood under the code of International Rules, and that Hirundo rustica is the correct type of the Linnean genus” (BOU 1915); "Hirundo Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 191. Type, by subsequent designation, Hirundo rustica Linnaeus (G. R. Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 8.)." (Peters, 1960, IX, p. 104). Linnaeus's Hirundo comprised eight species (H. rustica, H. esculenta, H. urbica, H. riparia, H. Apus, H. Subis, H. pelagica, H. Melba).
Var. Hirunda.
Synon. Charitochelidon, Chelidon, Hemicecrops, Herse, Hersepis, Hypurolepis, Natalornis, Setirundo, Uromitus, Waldenia.

hirundo
L. hirundo, hirundinis  swallow.
● "70. STERNA.  ...  Hirundo.  2. S. cauda forficata: rectricibus duabus extimis albo nigroque dimidiatis. Fn. svec. 127.  Sterna. Gesn. av. 53. Aldr. orn. l. 19. c. 7. Jonst. av. 130. t. 46.  Hirundo marina. Will. orn. 268. t. 68. Raj. av. 131. Alb. av. 2. p. 79. t. 90.  Habitat in Europa.  Mas & Femina indissolubiles socii monogami." (Linnaeus 1758); “Prof. Einar Lönnberg (Ibis, 1913, p. 301) has gone carefully into the question whether S. hirundo Linn. should be applied to the Common or to the Arctic Tern. He has given good reasons for referring it to the former species, and the Committee have accepted his decision” (BOU 1915) (Sterna).

smithii
● Sir Andrew Smith (1797-1872) Scottish zoologist, ethnologist, explorer in South Africa, first Superintendent of Cape Town Mus. 1825 (syn. Accipiter melanoleucus, syn. Anthoscopus minutus, syn. Campethera abingoni suahelica, syn. Cisticola aberrans, syn. Falco rupicoloides, subsp. Lanius collaris, syn. Merops bullockoides, syn. Rhinopomastus cyanomelas, Spatula, subsp. Terpsiphone rufiventer).
● Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828) English botanist, first President of the Linnean Society of London (syn. Ailuroedus crassirostris, Geophaps).
● Prof. Christen Smith (1785-1816) Norwegian botanist, naturalist, collector in the Canaries 1815, Cape Verdes, and the Congo 1816  (Hirundo).
● Dr Arthur Donaldson-Smith (1864-1939) US big-game hunter, naturalist, collector in Abyssinia and Somaliland 1894-1895 (subsp. Turdoides leucopygia).
● see smithi

SUBSPECIES

Wire-tailed Swallow (smithii)
SCI Name: Hirundo smithii smithii
smithii
● Sir Andrew Smith (1797-1872) Scottish zoologist, ethnologist, explorer in South Africa, first Superintendent of Cape Town Mus. 1825 (syn. Accipiter melanoleucus, syn. Anthoscopus minutus, syn. Campethera abingoni suahelica, syn. Cisticola aberrans, syn. Falco rupicoloides, subsp. Lanius collaris, syn. Merops bullockoides, syn. Rhinopomastus cyanomelas, Spatula, subsp. Terpsiphone rufiventer).
● Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828) English botanist, first President of the Linnean Society of London (syn. Ailuroedus crassirostris, Geophaps).
● Prof. Christen Smith (1785-1816) Norwegian botanist, naturalist, collector in the Canaries 1815, Cape Verdes, and the Congo 1816  (Hirundo).
● Dr Arthur Donaldson-Smith (1864-1939) US big-game hunter, naturalist, collector in Abyssinia and Somaliland 1894-1895 (subsp. Turdoides leucopygia).
● see smithi

Wire-tailed Swallow (filifera)
SCI Name: Hirundo smithii filifera
filifera / filiferus
Mod. L. filiferus  thread-bearing  < L. filum, fili  thread; -ferus  bearing  < ferre  to bear.
• "Sp. 11.  Hi? filifera.   HI. vertice nucha colloque superne rufis; corpore supra cærulescente, subtus alba, alis caudaque nigris; rectricibus, duabus mediis exceptis, macula alba, externis utrinque longissimis filiformibus.  ...  Wire-tailed Swallow.  Lath. Gen. Hist. vii. 309. pl. cxlii." (Stephens 1825) (subsp. Hirundo smithii).