Subspecies Hirundapus caudacutus caudacutus (Latham, 1801)

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CAVS: 8965

Subspecies Hirundapus caudacutus caudacutus (Latham, 1801)

Hirundo caudacuta Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [57] [based on the Needle-tailed Swallow in Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801] (259), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 216 (=217) in BMNH, see Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (144); Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII; for identity of Watling drawing 216, see Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; given that the Watling drawings were compiled at Port Jackson, NSW, see Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 217 (as 216) in BMNH), New South Wales, probably region of Port Jackson (as Nova Hollandia)
Comment: it is unlikely that the specimen in NHMW from Dalrymple Bay, TAS, is type material, as cited by Von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Part II. Ibis 3 3: 105–124.
Type locality references:
Latham, J. 1801. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. 120-140 pls. [publication dated as 1801 - see Schodde et al. (2010)] [259] (cf. Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII).
Hirundo fusca Stephens, J.F. 1817. In, General Zoology or Systematic Natural History, commenced by the late George Shaw, M.D.F.R.S. & C. Aves. London : G. Wilkie Vol. X Pt II xxxi pp. 317-765 pls 30-60. [published Sept.] [133] [junior homonym of Hirundo fusca Vieillot, 1817 (=Progne tapera fusca (Vieillot, 1817)), published before Sept. 3, 1817, see Mees, G.F. 1985. Comments on species of the genus Hirundapus (Aves: Apodidae). Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie Wetenschappen C 88: 63–73; identified with non-Australian-occurring Hirundapus caudacutus nudipes Hodgson, 1837 by Collins, C.T. & Brooke, R.K. 1976. A review of the swifts of the genus Hirundapus (Aves: Apodidae). Los Angeles County Natural History Contributions to Science 282: 1–22 (10)—but determined as nominotypical caudacutus Latham, 1802 by Mees (loc cit.) and authors quoted by him: its type may thus be Australian in origin, as noted by Strickland, H.E. 1843. Remarks on a collection of Australian drawings of birds, the property of the Earl of Derby. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 333–338; also Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH (institution uncertain, or lost), New South Wales? Australia? (as Native place unknown)
Comment: holotype cited in original description as being in BMNH, but not quoted by Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp.-it may be one of the specimens listed without locality 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] (473).
Chaetura australis Stephens, J.F. 1826. In, General Zoology or Systematic Natural History, commenced by the late George Shaw, M.D.F.R.S. & C. Aves. London : J. & A. Arch etc. Vol. XIII Pt II 290 pp. pls 31-63. [published Feb. 1826, publication dated 1825, 1826] [76] [nom. nov. for Hirundo caudacuta Latham, 1802].
Chaetura macroptera Swainson, W. 1830. Zoological Illustrations, or Original Figures and Descriptions of new, rare, or interesting animals, selected chiefly from the classes of Ornithology, Entomology, and Conchology, and arranged according to their natural affinities. 2nd Series. The Birds. London : Baldwin & Cradock Vol. 1 vii 54 pp. 45 pls 1-45. [Date published 1829-1833] [pl. 42] [described from the collection of a 'Mr Ward'; published in 1829 according to Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.], his various revisions, and Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp., and in 1833 according to 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], and Collins, C.T. & Brooke, R.K. 1976. A review of the swifts of the genus Hirundapus (Aves: Apodidae). Los Angeles County Natural History Contributions to Science 282: 1–22—however, the detailed collation of series two of Swainson's Zoological Illustrations by 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) specifies the appearance of plate 42 (original description of Chaetura macroptera Swainson) in 1830].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (not traced, ?UMZC), without locality (New South Wales?).
Type locality references:
Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (cf. Collins, C.T. & Brooke, R.K. 1976. A review of the swifts of the genus Hirundapus (Aves: Apodidae). Los Angeles County Natural History Contributions to Science 282: 1–22).

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Collins, C.T. & Brooke, R.K. 1976. A review of the swifts of the genus Hirundapus (Aves: Apodidae). Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Contributions in Science 282: 1-22 [11]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Vagrant NT & WA, coastal and subcoastal E Australia and offshore islands, north to Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait—south to all VIC, the South-East of SA and TAS—and west inland to the W coast of Cape York Peninsula, eastern headwaters of the Norman-Flinders Rivers and outer W slopes and spurs of Great Dividing Range in central QLD, and the Murray-Darling basin, QLD, NSW, west to c. 140ºE—uncommon further south-west to Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Is., SA, and erratically to W Arnhem Land, Kimberley Division, central and far SW Australia, and to Norfolk, Lord Howe, and Macquarie Ils—one questionable record from Cocos (Keeling) Ils (subspecies?).

Note that conversion of the original AFD map of states, drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones to IBRA and IMCRA regions may have produced errors. The new maps will be reviewed and corrected as updates occur. The maps may not indicate the entire distribution. See further details below.

IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones (map not available)

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Plains (GUP), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21), Macquarie Island Province (24)

Other Regions

Heard & McDonald Islands (Aust. Terr.)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Antarctic Region

Heard & McDonald Islands (Aust. Terr.)
Macquarie Island (Aust. Terr.)

Australian Region

Australia
- Lord Howe Island
- New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Norfolk Island
- Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
- South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal
- Tasmania
- Victoria
New Zealand

Ecological Descriptors

Aerial, arthropod-feeder, diurnal, gregarious, migratory, nocturnal, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, non-breeding summer migrant, feeds in large swirling aerial flocks, circling in wide fast sweeps from low over ground to hundreds of metres above ground on swiftly beating wings interspersed with gliding on down-swept wings, roosts at night in the foliage of forest trees (after nightfall) or at times possibly sleeps on wing, breeds across Siberia south to N Mongolia, Manchuria, northern Korea and Japan, arrives in E Australia in Oct. and departs during Apr. when passage migrant through Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait.