• Hirundidae Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organises. Palermo (Italy) : Privately Published 224 pp. [Date published April to July].

  Type genus:

   Hirundo Linnaeus, 1758.

Introduction

The cosmopolitan family of swallows and martins worldwide comprises 84 species in 20 genera. Australian representation is eight percent of the total (Dickinson 2003), there being seven species (including eight ultrataxa) in four genera. Only one these species, the White-backed Swallow, Cheramoeca leucosternus, is endemic; and two, the Barn Swallow, Hirundo rustica, and the Red-rumped Swallow, H. daurica, appear to have established regular migration patterns to northern Australia. Another, the Pacific Swallow, H. tahitica is thought to occur on islands in the Torres Strait (Shodde & Mason 1999). The remaining three species are common, with most populations showing a migration pattern away from colder winter temperatures in southern Australia.

Hirundinids are all aerial feeders, hawking their insectivorous prey on long wings. Their feet are short and weak, allowing them only to sit on horizontal perches or cling, like swifts, to vertical surfaces. Swallows and martins are gregarious or may be found in small groups, or occasionally as solitary birds. Aggregations may assemble at swarms of flying insect hatchings. They occupy a variety of habitats including alpine meadow, bare stony plain, broadleaf thickets and shrubland, woodlands, chenopodiaceous steppe, wet and dry sclerophyll forests, human habitation, lignum or cane grass swamp, heaths, mangrove or mangal, marine shore-tidal sandflat, open freshwater wetland, open sea, grassfields, samphire salt marsh, and rainforests.

Vagrant swallows; H. rustica, H. daurica and H. tahitica are not known to nest in Australia. The remaining local populations have independent and distinctive nesting procedures. C. leucosternus establishes its nest in a shallow tunnel normally placed in a creek bank; H. neoxena has a cup-shaped mud nest attached to a vertical surface; and of the two martins, Petrochelidon ariel has a mud construction built in a bottle shape and placed under a rock overhang or the eave of a building or in culverts under bridges; whereas nests of P. nigricans are normally built in a hollow limb or in a building cavity that has a small entrance. The nests are lined with feathers and fine fibres. Eggs have a white base colour and each may be finely dotted with red, brown, or grey, either overall or about the larger end as a cap.

Excluded Taxa

Vagrant Species

CAVS:8570
HIRUNDINIDAE: Cecropis (Lillia) daurica japonica (Temminck & Schlegel, 1847) [Eastern Red-rumped Swallow; vagrant to Christmas Island and Northern Australia - WA, NT & Qld]

CAVS:0787
HIRUNDINIDAE: Cecropis (Lillia) daurica (Linnaeus, 1771) [Red-rumped Swallow; vagrant to Christmas Island and Northern Australia - WA, NT & Qld] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [38, 205, 206]

CAVS:8034
HIRUNDINIDAE: Delichon dasypus dasypus (Bonaparte, 1850) [vagrant to Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands]

CAVS:0757
HIRUNDINIDAE: Delichon dasypus (Bonaparte, 1850) [Asian House Martin] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [38, 206] (vagrant on Christmas Island, records on Cocos (Keeling) Islands are unconfirmed)

Diagnosis

'Structurally, distinctive features are the long, swift-like manus and short humerus, with only an incipient second tricipital fossa, as well as much narrowed temporal fossae, pin-like maxillo-palatine processes, doubled ectethmoid foramina and multiple orbital perforations in the front of the cranium (Australian hirundinines)' (Schodde & Mason 1999).

Diagnosis References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp.

General References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp.

History of changes

History of changes

• Cheramoeca Cabanis, J. & Heine, F. 1851. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Halberstadt : R. Frantz Vol. 1. [Date published 1851: dated 1850] [49].

  Type species:

   Hirundo leucosternus Gould, 1841 by monotypy.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, W plateau
  • Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, NE coastal
  • South Australia
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

History of changes

• Hirundo leucosternus Gould, J. 1841. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, Dec. 8, 1840. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1840: 168-178 [Date published Jul 1841: publication dated 1840] [172].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 15713 ♂, Western Australia.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129-180 [Date published 28 Feb 1913] [154].
• Cheramoeca leucosternum marngli Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [301].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560714 adult ♀, WA: Marngle (= Manguel) Creek.
• Cheramoeca leucosternum stonei Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List. Austral Avian Records 1(5): 118-120 [Date published 24 Dec 1912] [118].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560700 adult ♀, NSW: Warialda.
• Atticora leucosternon Gould, J. 1842. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Part 9. [Date published 1 Dec 1842] [pl. 12] [unjustified emendation of the specific epithet leucosternus Gould, 1841: ICdZN Art. 33.2, but indicative of Gould's intention to treat the name leucosternus as a noun in apposition in combination with genera of feminine gender].

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, W plateau
  • Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, NE coastal
  • South Australia
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

Ecological Descriptors

Casuarina-cypress woodland, chenopodiaceous steppe, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, mulga woodland, rocky hummock grassfield, sand-plain hummock grassfield, temperate eucalypt, tropical eucalypt, tussock grassland.

General References

David, N. & Gosselin, M. 2002. Gender agreement of avian species names. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 122(1): 14-49 [22] (masculine)

Common Name References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. (White-backed Swallow)

History of changes

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21), Cocos (Keeling) Island Province (22), Christmas Island Province (23)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Afrotropical Region

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • Lord Howe Island
  • New South Wales
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N coastal, W plateau
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
• Fiji
• French Polynesia
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
  • New Britain
• Tonga

Nearctic Region

Neotropical Region

Oriental Region

• Andaman Islands
• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Brunei
• Burma (= Myanmar)
• China (People's Republic)
• Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Aust. Terr.)
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Kampuchea (Cambodia)
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Palaearctic Region

History of changes

• Hirundo Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10 Edn., 824 pp. [191].

  Type species:

   Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [8].
• Chelidon Forster, J.R. 1817. Synonymic Catalogue of British Birds. London : British Museum Vol. 17. [55].
• Herse Gray, G.R. 1841. A List of the Genera of Birds, with their synonyms and an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J. Taylor xii 115 pp. [Date published Sep 1841] [junior homonym of Herse Oken, 1815 (Lepidoptera)].
• Hypurolepis Gould, J. 1868. The Birds of Asia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1. [text to pl. 32].

  Type species:

   Hirundo domicola Jerdon, 1844 by subsequent designation, see Salvadori, T. 1881. Ornithologiae della Papuasia e delle Molucche. Turin : T. Salvadori Vol. 2. [1].
• Hypurolepsis Sundevall, C.J. 1872. Methodi Naturalis Avium Disponendarum Tentamen. Stockholm : Samson & Wallin lxix 187 + 12 pp. [52] [unjustified emendation of Hypurolepis Gould, 1868: ICdZN Art.33.2].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21), Cocos (Keeling) Island Province (22), Christmas Island Province (23)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Afrotropical Region

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • Lord Howe Island
  • New South Wales
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N coastal, W plateau
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
• Fiji
• French Polynesia
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
  • New Britain
• Tonga

Nearctic Region

Neotropical Region

Oriental Region

• Andaman Islands
• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Brunei
• Burma (= Myanmar)
• China (People's Republic)
• Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Aust. Terr.)
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Kampuchea (Cambodia)
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Palaearctic Region

History of changes

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), 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), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

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

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • Lord Howe Island
  • New South Wales
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, W plateau
  • Queensland: Torres Strait Islands
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
• New Zealand

Ecological Descriptors

Casuarina-cypress woodland, eremic riverine woodland, human habitation, lignum or cane grass swamp, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, marine shore-tidal sandflat, mulga woodland, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, samphire salt marsh, temperate eucalypt, tropical eucalypt.

Common Name References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. (Welcome Swallow)

History of changes

• Chelidon javanica carteri Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [300].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560100 adult ♂, WA: Broomehill.

Distribution

States

Western Australia

IBRA

WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Carnarvon (CAR), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Esperance Plains (ESP), Gascoyne (GAS), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Murchison (MUR), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

Ecological Descriptors

Casuarina-cypress woodland, eremic riverine woodland, human habitation, lignum or cane grass swamp, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, marine shore-tidal sandflat, mulga woodland, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, samphire salt marsh, temperate eucalypt, tropical eucalypt.

History of changes

• Hirundo neoxena Gould, J. 1842. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Part 9. [Date published 1 Dec 1842] [pl. 13].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 15706 adult ♂, Tasmania.
  Paralectotype(s) ANSP 15708 adult ♀, Tasmania.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129-180 [Date published 28 Feb 1913] [154].
• Hirundo pacifica Gray, J.E. in Griffith, E. & Pidgeon, E. 1829. The Class Aves, arranged by the Baron Cuvier, with specific descriptions, Vol. 2. The Animal Kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation, by the Baron Cuvier. (English transl.). London : Whittaker, Treacher & Co. Vol. VII. 586 pp. 60 pls [96] [junior primary homonym of Hirundo pacifica Latham, 1802 = Apus pacificus Latham, 1802].
• Hirundo tahitica parsonsi White, C.M.N. 1936. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 57: 26-28 [Date published 11 Nov 1936] [27] [as parsoni, but name dedicated to F.E. Parsons in protologue and corrected here in accord with ICdZN Art. 32.5].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1901.3.20.85 adult ♂, Qld: Bartle Frere.
• Cotyle familiaris Gould, J. in Grey, G. 1841. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in north-west and western Australia, during the years 1837, 38 and 39 under the Authority of Her Majesty's Government. London : T. & W. Boone Vol. 2 vii 482 pp. (Appendix D, pp. 415-421). [publication date] [416] [nomen nudum, nor made available by introduction into the synonymy of this form by Mathews, The Birds of Australia 8 (1920: 35), ICdZN Art. 11. 5, 6].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

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

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • Lord Howe Island
  • New South Wales
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, W plateau
  • Queensland: Torres Strait Islands
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
• New Zealand

Ecological Descriptors

Casuarina-cypress woodland, eremic riverine woodland, human habitation, lignum or cane grass swamp, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, marine shore-tidal sandflat, mulga woodland, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, samphire salt marsh, temperate eucalypt, tropical eucalypt.

History of changes

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gascoyne (GAS), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Cocos (Keeling) Island Province (22), Christmas Island Province (23)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Afrotropical Region

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, W plateau
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea

Nearctic Region

Neotropical Region

Oriental Region

• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Brunei
• Burma (= Myanmar)
• China (People's Republic)
• Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Aust. Terr.)
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Kampuchea (Cambodia)
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Palaearctic Region

Ecological Descriptors

Broadleaf thicket/shrubland, human habitation, lignum or cane grass swamp, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, tropical eucalypt, tussock grassland.

Nomenclatural details of nominate taxon, not in Australia

Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 iv 823 pp. [191].

Common Name References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. (Barn Swallow)

History of changes

• Hirundo gutturalis Scopoli, G.A. 1786. Deliciae florae et faunae insubricae; seu Novae, aut minus cognitae species plantarum et animalium quas in Insubria austriaca tam spontaneas, quam exoticas vidit, descripsit, et aeri incidi curavit Ionnes Antonius Scopoli. 3 pts. Ticini : Ex Typographia Reg. et Imp. Monasterii S. Salvatoris Vol. 2. [96].
• Hirundo fretensis Gould, J. 1865. Handbook to the Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 viii 636 pp. [Date published Sep 1865] [110].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1881.5.1.5925 immature unsexed, Australia: north coast.
• Hirundo frenata Blyth, E. 1866. The Ornithology of India. A Commentary on Dr. Jerdon's 'Birds of India'. Ibis 2 2(8): 336-376 [Date published Oct 1866] [336] [presumed incorrect subsequent spelling of Hirundo fretensis Gould, 1865, and unavailable: ICdZN Art. 33.3].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gascoyne (GAS), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Cocos (Keeling) Island Province (22), Christmas Island Province (23)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N coastal
  • Queensland: NE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, W plateau

Oriental Region

• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Brunei
• Burma (= Myanmar)
• China (People's Republic)
• Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Aust. Terr.)
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Kampuchea (Cambodia)
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Ecological Descriptors

Broadleaf thicket/shrubland, human habitation, lignum or cane grass swamp, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, tropical eucalypt, tussock grassland.

History of changes

Distribution

States

Queensland

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Queensland: Torres Strait Islands
• Fiji
• French Polynesia
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea
  • New Britain
• Tonga

Ecological Descriptors

Broadleaf thicket/shrubland, human habitation, mangrove or mangal.

Nomenclatural details of nominate taxon, not in Australia

Hirundo tahitica Gmelin, J.F. (1789). Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synomymis, locis. Tomus I. Linné, editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Regnum Animalium. Pt 2. Leipzig (Lipsiae) : G.E. Beer pp. 501-1032 [1016] [publication dated 1788].

Common Name References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. (Pacific Swallow)

History of changes

• Hirundo (Hirundo) tahitica albescens Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. [667].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANWC 8525 adult ♂, Papua New Guinea: Magarida, Amazon Bay.
  Paratype(s) ANWC 1661 adult ♀, Papua New Guinea: Brown RIver, north-west of Port Moresby on Hiritano Highway.

Distribution

States

Queensland

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Queensland: Torres Strait Islands
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea

Ecological Descriptors

Broadleaf thicket/shrubland, human habitation, mangrove or mangal.

History of changes

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia
• East Timor
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
  • West Timor
• Papua New Guinea
• Solomon Islands

History of changes

• Hylochelidon Gould, J. 1865. Handbook to the Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 viii 636 pp. [Date published Sep 1865] [110].

  Type species:

   Hirundo nigricans Vieillot, 1817 by monotypy.
• Antrochelidon Baldamus, E. 1870. [Title not located]. Journal für Ornithologie 17 [406].
• Amnochelidon Sharpe, R.B. & Wyatt, C.W. 1887. A monograph of the Hirundinidae or family of swallows. London Vol. 5, 6. [523] [unjustified emendation of Antrochelidon Baldamus, 1870, but unavailable because introduced as a synonym of Petrochelidon Cabanis, 1850 and so not treated as valid when proposed: ICdZN Art. 11.5, 6].
• Petrochelidon Cabanis, J. & Heine, F. 1851. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Halberstadt : R. Frantz Vol. 1. [Date published 1851: dated 1850] [47].

  Type species:

   Hirundo melanogaster Swainson, 1827 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1855. Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum 192 pp. [13].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia
• East Timor
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
  • West Timor
• Papua New Guinea
• Solomon Islands

History of changes

Generic Combinations

• Hirundo nigricans (Vieillot, 1817).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia
• East Timor
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
  • West Timor
• Papua New Guinea
• Solomon Islands

Ecological Descriptors

Broadleaf thicket/shrubland, casuarina-cypress woodland, dry sclerophyll forest, eremic riverine woodland, human habitation, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, mangrove or mangal, mulga woodland, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, subtropical rainforest, temperate eucalypt, temperate rainforest, tropical eucalypt, tropical rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest.

Common Name References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. (Tree Martin)

History of changes

• Petrochelidon nigricans neglecta Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [301] [senior to simultaneously published Petrochelidon nigricans distinguenda Mathews, 1912, by action of first reviser, Peters, Checklist of Birds of the World 9 (1960: 119), ICdZN Art. 24.2].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560752 adult ♀, WA: Marngle (= Manguel ) Creek.
• Petrochelidon nigricans distinguenda Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [301].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560763 adult ♂, WA: East Murchison district.
• Petrochelidon nigricans rogersi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [38].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560773 adult ♂, NT: Darwin.

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, SA, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, S Gulfs, W plateau
  • Western Australia
• East Timor
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
  • West Timor
• Papua New Guinea
• Solomon Islands

Ecological Descriptors

Broadleaf thicket/shrubland, casuarina-cypress woodland, dry sclerophyll forest, eremic riverine woodland, human habitation, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, mangrove or mangal, mulga woodland, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, subtropical rainforest, temperate eucalypt, temperate rainforest, tropical eucalypt, tropical rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest.

History of changes

• Hirundo nigricans Vieillot, L.P. 1817. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, principalement à l'Agriculture, à l'Écomomie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une société de naturalistes et d'agriculteurs. Nouvelle edition. Paris : Déterville Vol. 14. [Date published 13 Sep 1817] [523].
• Petrochelidon nigricans caleyi Mathews, G.M. 1913. Additions and corrections to my Reference List. Austral Avian Records 2: 63-71 [65].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560815 adult ♂, NSW: Albury.
• Petrochelidon nigricans cayleyi Peters, J.L. 1960. Hirundinidae. pp. 80-125 in Mayr, E. & Greenway, J.C. Jr (eds). Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge Vol. 9 xii + 506 pp. [120] [unjustified emendation of Petrochelidon nigricans caleyi Mathews, 1913, but unavailable because cited only in synonymy and not treated as valid when introduced: ICdZN Art. 11. 5,6].
• Hirundo pyrrhonota Vigors, N.A. & Horsfield, T. 1827. A description of the Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 15: 170-331 [Date published 17 Feb 1827: publication dated 1826] [190] [junior primary homonym of Hirundo pyrrhonota Vieillot, 1817 = Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot, 1817), Hirundinidae].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.9 adult unsexed (authors used Latham's manuscript name), NT: western Gulf of Carpentaria.
• Collocalia arborea Gould, J. 1842. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Part 9. [Date published 1 Dec 1842] [pl. 14].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) ANSP 15760 adult ♂ (two other syntypes not located), Tasmania.
• Hirundo pyrrhonota australis Temminck, C.J. & Schlegel, H. 1847. Aves. In, Siebold, P. von (ed.). Fauna Japonica sive Descriptio animalium, qual in itinere per Japoniam, jussu et auspiciis superiotum, qui summum in India Batavia Imperium tenent … Lugduni Batavorum. Arnz & Soc. [35] [for date of publication of p. 35, the page in the Fauna Japonica on which this name was published, see Browning & Monroe, Archives of Natural History 18 (1991: 395)].
• Herse pygialis Bonaparte, C.L. 1850. Conspectus Generum Avium. Tom. I. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill 543 pp. [Date published 24 Jun 1850] [340] [as synonym of Hirundo nigricans Vieillot, 1817 — never taken up as valid and so unavailable: ICdZN Art. 11.5,6].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), 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), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria

Ecological Descriptors

Broadleaf thicket/shrubland, casuarina-cypress woodland, dry sclerophyll forest, eremic riverine woodland, human habitation, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, mangrove or mangal, mulga woodland, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, subtropical rainforest, temperate eucalypt, temperate rainforest, tropical eucalypt, tropical rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest.

History of changes

• Petrochelidon Cabanis, J. & Heine, F. 1851. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Halberstadt : R. Frantz Vol. 1. [Date published 1851: dated 1850] [47].

  Type species:

   Hirundo melanogaster Swainson, 1827 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1855. Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum 192 pp. [13].
• Lagenoplastes Gould, J. 1865. Handbook to the Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 viii 636 pp. [Date published Sep 1865] [112].

  Type species:

   Collocalia ariel Gould, 1842 by original designation.
• Lagenoplactes Giebel, C.G.A. 1875. Thesaurus ornithologiae. Repertorium der gesammten ornithologischen Literatur und Nomenclatur Sämmtlicher Gattungen und Arten der Vögel nebst Synonymen und geographischer Verbreitung. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus Vol. 2 fasc. 2. [417] [presumed incorrect subsequent spelling of Lagenoplastes Gould, 1865, and unavailable: ICdZN Art. 33.3].
• Lagenoplastis North, A.J. 1896. Zoology: Aves. pp. 53-110 in Spencer, B. (ed.). Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia. Melbourne : Melville, Mullen & Slade Vol. 2. [Date published Feb 1896] [108] [presumed incorrect subsequent spelling of Lagenoplastes Gould, 1865, and unavailable: ICdZN Art. 33.3].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia

History of changes

• Collocalia ariel Gould, J. 1842. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Part 9. [Date published 1 Dec 1842] [pl. 15].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANSP 15769 adult ♂, New South Wales.
• Petrochelidon ariel conigravi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1: 73-80 [Date published 28 Jun 1912] [75].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 560835 unsexed, WA: Forrest River near Wyndham.

Generic Combinations

• Hirundo ariel (Gould, 1842).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia

Ecological Descriptors

Alpine meadow, bare stony plain, broadleaf thicket/shrubland, casuarina-cypress woodland, chenopodiaceous steppe, dry sclerophyll forest, eremic riverine woodland, human habitation, lignum or cane grass swamp, low sclerophyll heath, mallee (Eucalyptus) woodland, mangrove or mangal, marine shore-tidal sandflat, mulga woodland, open freshwater wetland, paperbark woodland, rocky hummock grassfield, samphire salt marsh, sand-plain hummock grassfield, subtropical rainforest, temperate eucalypt, temperate rainforest, tropical eucalypt, tropical rainforest, tussock grassland, wet sclerophyll forest.

Common Name References

Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1999. The Directory of Australian Birds : Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia : CSIRO Publishing x 851 pp. (Fairy Martin)

History of changes