Cecropis

{{short description|Genus of birds}}

{{about|a bird|Ancient Greek tribe|Kekropis}}

{{automatic taxobox

| image = Golondrina_dáurica_Cecropis_daurica_1.jpg

| image_caption = Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis rufula)

| taxon = Cecropis

| authority = F. Boie, 1826

| type_species = Hirundo capensis{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=161 |title= Hirundinidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-15}}

| type_species_authority = J.F. Gmelin, 1789

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

| synonyms = * Lillia

}}

Cecropis is a genus of large swallows found in Africa and tropical Asia. The red-rumped swallow's range also extends into southern Europe, and (in small numbers) into Australia. This genus is frequently subsumed into the larger genus Hirundo.{{cite book|author1=Angela K. Turner|author2=Chris Rose|title=Swallows & Martins: An Identification Guide and Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5NoPAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=16 February 2012|date=November 1989|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=978-0-395-51174-9}}

The swallow family Hirundinidae consists of 92 bird species which typically hunt insects in flight. The two river martins have long been recognised as very distinctive, and are placed in a separate subfamily, Pseudochelidoninae, leaving all other swallows and martins in the Hirundininae. DNA studies suggest that there are three major groupings within the Hirundininae subfamily, broadly correlating with the type of nest built.{{cite journal | last1= Sheldon | first1= Frederick H. | author-link=Fred Sheldon (ornithologist)|last2=Whittingham |first2=Linda A. |last3=Moyle |first3=Robert G. |last4=Slikas |first4=Beth |last5=Winkler |first5=David W. |date=April 2005 | title=Phylogeny of swallows (Aves: Hirundinidae) estimated from nuclear and mitochondrial DNA | journal= Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=35 |issue=1| pages= 254–270 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.008 | pmid=15737595}} The groups are the "core martins" including burrowing species like the sand martin, the "nest-adopters", with birds like the tree swallow which use natural cavities, and the "mud nest builders". The Cecropsis species construct a closed mud nest and therefore belong to the latter group. It is believed that the evolutionary sequence is from species that make open cup nests (Hirundo and Ptyonoprogne), through Delichon house martins with closed nests, to Cecropis and Petrochelidon, which have retort-like closed nests with an entrance tunnel.{{cite journal | last1= Winkler | first1= David W. | last2= Sheldon | first2= Frederick H. | date= June 1993 | title= Evolution of nest construction in swallows (Hirundinidae): a molecular phylogenetic perspective | journal= Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA | volume= 90 | pages= 5705–5707 | doi= 10.1073/pnas.90.12.5705 | pmid= 8516319 | pmc= 46790 | issue= 12 | doi-access= free | bibcode= 1993PNAS...90.5705W }}

The genus Cecropis was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826.{{ cite journal | last=Boie | first=Friedrich | author-link=Friedrich Boie | year=1826 | title=Generalübersicht | journal=Isis von Oken | volume=19 | at=Col 971 | language=de | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27511177 }} The type species was subsequently designated as the greater striped swallow (Cecropis cucullata) by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori in 1881.{{ cite book | last=Salvadori | first=Tommaso | author-link=Tommaso Salvadori | year=1881 | title=Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche | volume=Part 2 | language=it | location=Torino | publisher=G.B. Paravia | page=1 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52814025 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1960 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=9 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=113 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480788 }} The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek Kekropis "Athenian woman".{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/cecropis | accessdate=13 May 2018 }}