Subspecies Aerodramus terraereginae terraereginae (Ramsay, 1875)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cypselus terraereginae Ramsay, E.P. 1875. Descriptions of five new species of birds from Queensland and of the egg of Chlamydodera maculata. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1874: 601-605 [publication dated 1874] [601] [as terrae-reginae, emended here under ICZN Art. 31(d)].

  Type data:

   Lectotype AM 0.18580 ♂ adult, northeast coast ranges near Cardwell, Rockingham Bay, QLD.
  Paralectotype(s) AM 0.18581 ♀ adult; BMNH
  Comment: for identification of syntypes, see Hindwood, K.A. 1946. A list of the types and paratypes of birds from Australian localities in the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales. Records of the Australian Museum 21: 386–393 (who mis-cites the registration numbers) and Longmore, N.W. 1991. Type specimens of birds in the Australian Museum. Technichal Report of the Australian Museum n 4: 1–42; an annotation on the label of AM 0.18580-'type no. 3'-indicates that there was a third syntype since missing from AM: it may be the specimen in BMNH cited as 'm Ad. Sk. Queensland. E.P. Ramsay [P]' by Hartert, E. 1892. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Picariae. Coraciae. London : British Museum Vol. 16 xvi 703 pp. XIV pls [Mathews, G.M. 1925. The Birds of Australia. Supplements 4 & 5. Bibliography of the Birds of Australia Pts 1 & 2. London : H.F. & G. Witherby viii 149 pp. Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240) (contrasting opinion) Sherborn, C.D. 1922. Index Animalium; sive, Index nominem quae ab A.D. 1758 generibus et speciebus animalium imposita sunt, societatibus eruditorum adiuvantibus. Sectio Secunda, 1801–1850. London : British Museum Pt 1 cxxxvi 128 pp. [lx] Browning, M.R. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1991. Clarifications and corrections of the dates of issue of some publications containing descriptions of North American birds. Arch. Nat. Hist. 18: 381–405] (505).

  Subsequent designation references:

  Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [337].
• Collocalia francica zoonava Mathews, G.M. 1916. In Proceedings of meeting of British Ornithologists' Club, June 14, 1916. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 36: 89-92 [Date published 7 Jul 1916] [89].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 634636 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Johnstone River, north QLD
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Pecotich, L. 1982. Speciation of the Grey Swiftlet Aerodramus spodiopygius in Australia. Tower Karst 4: 53-57 [53-56]

 

Miscellaneous Literature Names

• Aerodramus terrareginae (Ramsay, 1875) [misspelling]. —
  Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [257] (index)

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal NE QLD inland to east scarps of Great Dividing Range in association with rainforest, north to Pascoe River, Cape York Peninsula, south to Clarke-Pisgah Ranges—also offshore islands, for example, Fitzroy, the Family Ils, and Hinchinbrook. Occasional records (vagrants?) north to islands in south Torres Strait, QLD and south to Tweed, Richmond and Clarence River drainages, NSW.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Queensland: Great Barrier Reef, NE coast, NE coastal, NE oceanic

Ecological Descriptors

Aerial, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, gregarious, mangrove, nomadic, open forest, sedentary, swamp, tall forest, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, feeds aerially from near gound to high above trees in wide circling convolutions and gliding on down-swept wings, often in large loose flocks, roosts and nests in deeper caves with little light, gives echolocation rattle call, builds a bracket-shaped nest of solidified whitish saliva strengthened by inter-bedded vegetable fibre and tendrils and hung from the roof and walls of caves.

 

General References

Clancy, G.P. 1980. White-rumped Swiftlet at Iluka, New South Wales. Australian Birds 15: 4 (NSW records)

Crouther, M.M. 1983. Observations on White-rumped Swiftlets breeding at Finch Hatton Gorge 1981–82. Australian Bird Watcher 10: 1-11 (behaviour, nidification)

Pecotich, L. 1974. Grey Swiftlets in the Tully River Gorge and Chillagoe Caves. Sunbird 5: 16-21 (distribution, nidification)

Pratt, E.K. 1979. The White-rumped Swiftlet in New South Wales. Australian Birds 13: 68-69 (distribution, behaviour)

Roberts, J.R., Smyth, D.M. & Spain, A.V. 1976. Preliminary studies on acoustic orientation in Collocalia spodiopygia. Search 7: 97-98 (echolocation)

Smyth, D.M. 1980. Notes on the diet of the Grey Swiftlet, Aerodramus spodiopygius. Sunbird 11: 20-21 (diet)

Smyth, D.M., Pecotich, L. & Roberts, J.R. 1980. Notes on the distribution and breeding of the Grey Swiftlet, Aerodramus spodiopygius. Sunbird 11: 1-19 (distribution, nidification)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		12-Feb-2013	MODIFIED