Hirundo

Taxobox
name = "Hirundo"

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Pair of Welcome Swallow, "Hirundo neoxena", chicks, the day after fledging
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Hirundinidae
genus = "Hirundo"
genus_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

The bird genus "Hirundo" is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). These are the typical swallows, including the widespread Barn Swallow. Many of this group have blue backs, red on the face and sometimes the rump or nape, and whitish or rufous underparts.

All of the species are found in the Old World, although one, the Barn Swallow, is cosmopolitan, also occurring in the Americas.

Genetic evidence has recently shown that many of the species previously included in "Hirundo" are less closely related than their appearance might suggest;Fact|date=December 2007 these species are sometimes treated in the separate genera "Cecropis" (e.g. Red-rumped Swallow "Cecropis daurica", previously "Hirundo daurica") and "Petrochelidon" (e.g. Cliff Swallow "Petrochelidon pyrrhonota", previously "Hirundo pyrrhonota"); they are as distinct from typical "Hirundo" as the House Martins in the genus "Delichon".

pecies

*Barn Swallow "Hirundo rustica"
*Red-chested Swallow "Hirundo lucida"
*Angolan Swallow "Hirundo angolensis"
*Pacific Swallow "Hirundo tahitica"
*Welcome Swallow "Hirundo neoxena"
*White-throated Swallow "Hirundo albigularis"
*Ethiopian Swallow "Hirundo aethiopica"
*Wire-tailed Swallow "Hirundo smithii"
*White-throated Blue Swallow "Hirundo nigrita"
*Pied-winged Swallow "Hirundo leucosoma"
*White-tailed Swallow "Hirundo megaensis"
*Pearl-breasted Swallow "Hirundo dimidiata"
*Blue Swallow "Hirundo atrocaerulea"
*Black-and-rufous Swallow "Hirundo nigrorufa"

References

*del Hoyo et al., eds. (2004). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-69-5
*A. Turner & C. Rose (1989). "Swallows and Martins". Helm. ISBN 0747032025