The satin swiftlet (''Collocalia uropygialis'') is a small bird in the

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Apodidae The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are not closely related to any passerine species. Swifts are placed in the order Apodiformes with hummingbirds. The treeswifts are closely r ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

and the

Loyalty Islands The Loyalty Islands Province ( French ''Province des îles Loyauté'') is one of three administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia encompassing the Loyalty Island (french: Îles Loyauté) archipelago in the Pacific, which are located northeast of ...

in the southwestern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It was formerly treated as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

glossy swiftlet The glossy swiftlet (''Collocalia esculenta'') is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and eastwards to New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands. Taxonomy The glossy swi ...

Taxonomy

The satin swiftlet was described by the English zoologist

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray FRS (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the younger brother o ...

in 1866 as a

of the

with the scientific name ''Collocalia esculenta uropygialis''. The type locality is

Aneityum Aneityum (also known as Anatom or Keamu) is the southernmost island of Vanuatu, in the province of Tafea. Geography Aneityum is the southernmost island of Vanuatu (not counting the Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are disputed with New Caledoni ...

, the southernmost island of

. The epithet ''uropygialis'' is from the Latin ''uropygialis'' meaning "rump". The satin swiftlet was formerly treated as a subspecies of the

but was promoted to species status based on the results of a detailed analysis of the swiftlets in the genus ''

Collocalia ''Collocalia'' is a genus of swifts, containing some of the smaller species termed "swiftlets". Formerly a catch-all genus for these, a number of its former members are now normally (though not by all authors) placed in ''Aerodramus''. The genus ...

'' published in 2017. Two subspecies are recognised: * ''C. u. uropygialis'' Gray, GR, 1866 –

and

* ''C. u. albidior'' Salomonsen, 1983 –

and

Description

The satin swiftlet is around in length. The back is satin blueish black. The throat and upper breast are plain dark grey, the lower breast, flanks and belly are white. The tail feathers are dark but there are usually dull white spots on the inner webs. The subspecies ''albidior'' is larger and has large white spots on the inner webs of the tail feathers. The upper breast is a paler grey with white margins to the feathers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27611243

satin swiftlet The satin swiftlet (''Collocalia uropygialis'') is a small bird in the swift family Apodidae. It is endemic to the Santa Cruz Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It was formerly treated as ...

Birds of Melanesia