Red-throated rock martin
Species of songbird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The red-throated rock martin (Ptyonoprogne rufigula), also known as the red-throated crag-martin,[2] is a small passerine bird in the swallow family, Hirundinidae. It is found over a large area of Africa from Sierra Leone eastwards to Eritrea and Ethiopia and then south across East Africa to Zimbabwe and northern Mozambique. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the large rock martin.
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| Red-throated rock martin | |
|---|---|
| |
| In Kenya | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Hirundinidae |
| Genus: | Ptyonoprogne |
| Species: | P. rufigula |
| Binomial name | |
| Ptyonoprogne rufigula (Fischer, GA & Reichenow, 1884) | |
 | |
| Range | |
Taxonomy
The red-throated rock martin was formally described in 1884 by the explorer Gustav Fischer and the ornithologist Anton Reichenow based on a specimen collected in the highlands of Eritrea. They coined the binomial name Cotyle rufigula.[3][4] It is now one of five martins placed in the genus Ptyonoprogne that was introduced in 1850 by German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.[5] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek πτυον/ptuon meaning "fan" with Latin progne meaning "swallow".[6] The specific epithet rufigula is from Latin rufus meaning "red" with gula meaning "throat".[7] The red-throated rock martin was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the southern African large rock martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula) with the English name "rock martin" for the combined taxa. The red-throated rock martin was elevated to species status based on morphological differences and phylogenomic analysis.[5][8]
Three subspecies are recognised:[5]
- Ptyonoprogne rufigula pusilla (Zedlitz, 1908) – south Mali to north Ethiopia and Eritrea
- Ptyonoprogne rufigula bansoensis (Bannerman, 1923) – Sierra Leone to Nigeria and Cameroon
- Ptyonoprogne rufigula rufigula (Fischer, GA & Reichenow, 1884) – north Nigeria and Chad to central Ethiopia south to Zimbabwe and north Mozambique