''Tachymarptis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of 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, Apodidae. It contains the

Alpine swift The alpine swift (''Tachymarptis melba'') formerly ''Apus melba'', is a species of swift found in Africa, southern Europe and Asia. They breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalaya. Like common swifts, they are migratory; the souther ...

(''Tachymarptis melba'') of Eurasia and Africa and the

mottled swift The mottled swift (''Tachymarptis aequatorialis'') is a species of bird in the swift family, Apodidae. It is one of two species in the genus '' Tachymarptis'' together with the alpine swift (''T. melba'').Chantler, Phil & Gerald Driessens (2000) ...

(''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. They are often included in the genus ''

Apus Apus is a small constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern sky. It represents a bird-of-paradise, and its name means "without feet" in Greek language, Greek because the bird-of-paradise was once wrongly believed to lack feet. ...

'' 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 A bird louse is any chewing louse (small, biting insects) of order Phthiraptera which parasitizes warm-blooded animals, especially birds. Bird lice may feed on feathers, skin, or blood. They have no wings, and their biting mouth parts distinguis ...

. The species placed in ''Tachymarptis'' are not deeply nested inside ''Apus''Päckert, Martin; A. Feigl, M. Wink & D.T. Tietze (2011
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). The name ''Tachymarptis'' comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''takhus'' ("fast") and ''marptis'' ("seizer").

References

Apodidae Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Apodiformes-stub