''Tachymarptis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 * SWIF ...

family, Apodidae. It contains the

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

(''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.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Tachymarptis'' was introduced in 1922 by the South African zoologist Austin Roberts with ''Hirundo melba''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758, the

alpine swift The alpine swift (''Tachymarptis melba'', formerly ''Apus melba'') is a species of Swift (bird), swift found in Africa, southern Europe, and Asia. They breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalayas. Like common swifts, they are bird mi ...

, as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The name ''Tachymarptis'' comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

''takhus'' ("fast") and ''marptis'' ("seizer"). The genus contains two species: *

, ''Tachymarptis melba'' *

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'' 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 distingui ...

. 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).

References

Apodidae Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Apodiformes-stub