Tachymarptis
{{short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic Taxobox
| image = Tachymarptis melba in flight.jpg
| image_caption = Alpine swift, Tachymarptis melba
| taxon = Tachymarptis
| authority = Roberts, 1922
| type_species = Hirundo melba
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
}}
Tachymarptis is a genus of bird in the swift family, Apodidae. It contains the Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) of Eurasia and Africa and the mottled swift (Tachymarptis aequatorialis) of Africa. They are large swifts with relatively broad wings, a large head, a medium-length forked tail and white in the underparts.Chantler, Phil & Gerald Driessens (2000) Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World, 2nd ed., Pica Press, East Sussex.
Taxonomy
The genus Tachymarptis was introduced in 1922 by the South African zoologist Austin Roberts with Hirundo melba Linnaeus, 1758, the alpine swift, as the type species.{{ cite journal | last=Roberts | first=Austin | author-link=Austin Roberts (zoologist) | date=1922 | title=Review of the nomenclature of South African birds | journal=Annals of the Transvaal Museum | volume=8 | issue=4 | pages=187-272 [216] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50414745 }} The name Tachymarptis comes from Greek takhus ("fast") and marptis ("seizer").{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages = 327}}
- Alpine swift, Tachymarptis melba
- Mottled swift, Tachymarptis aequatorialis
They are often included in the genus Apus but they are larger than other members of that genus, their nestlings have a different foot structure and they host different species of feather lice. The species placed in Tachymarptis are not deeply nested inside ApusPäckert, Martin; A. Feigl, M. Wink & D.T. Tietze (2011) [https://web.archive.org/web/20120425232813/http://www.biogeography.org/html/Meetings/2011/IBS2011-booklet-abstracts.pdf Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of swifts (Apodidae: Apus, Tachymarptis)]. 5th IBS conference, 7‐11.01.2011, Irakleion, Crete, Greece. but represent a monophyletic sister lineage to this genus, in order that they can either be regarded as a distinct genus or lumped into a genus Apus with a broader definition. This latter view is the one retained by the Clements Checklist (2022).
References
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{{Strisores|Ap.|state=collapsed}}
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Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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