So similar and yet so different: taxonomic status of Pallid Swift <i>Apus pallidus</i> and Common Swift <i>Apus apus</i>

Pellegrino, Irene; Cucco, Marco; Harvey, Johanna A.; Liberatore, F.; Pavia, Marco; Voelker, Gary; Boano, Giovanni

doi:10.1080/00063657.2017.1359235

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The pallid swift Apus pallidus is a highly mobile aerial insectivorous Palaearctic-African migrant with a non-breeding range covering vast areas of the seasonal Sahel and Guinea Savannah zones in northern sub-Saharan Africa (Chantler and Driessens 2000). Similar to the closely related common swift A. apus (Pellegrino et al 2017), the pallid swift show general morphological modifications to an aerial life-style, such as high aspect ratio wings, a streamlined body and an energy efficient flight style (Hedenström et al 2016, Sachs 2017. It was recently also empirically shown that pallid swifts mainly spend the non-breeding season on the wings (Hedenström et al 2019), something earlier described in alpine swifts Tachymarptis melba (Liechti et al 2013) and common swifts (Hedenström et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…However, another common nonbreeding visitor south of the Sahara from the temperate zone, the common swift, winters further south in Africa in areas where the general timing of the birds in relation to the rainy season may differ from that in the Sahel (Åkesson et al 2012, 2016). It is currently not clear if the two species compete for the same general foraging niche or if they after their genetic divergence have specialised into different spatiotemporal niches in relation to the dynamics of the African rainy seasons (Pellegrino et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Highly mobile insectivorous swifts perform multiple intra‐tropical migrations to exploit an asynchronous African phenology

Norevik

Boano

Hedenström

et al. 2018

Oikos

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With timely allocated movement phases, mobile organisms can match their space‐use with the seasonality of the environment and thereby optimise their resource utilisation over time. Long‐distance avian migrants are known to move with the seasonal dynamics on an annual basis, but how individuals respond to seasonality within their tropical non‐breeding range has been less studied. Here we analyse the movement pattern of a highly mobile aerial insectivorous bird, the pallid swift Apus pallidus, and its association with the local habitat phenology during the non‐breeding period, using individual‐based light‐level geolocation. We extracted timing and location of 21 birds’ residence periods, as well as characteristics of the intervening movements, such as distance and speed. We used time series of precipitation and vegetation data for each residence area to extract the timing of the local end of the rainy season and the onset of the dry season. The pallid swifts repeatedly upgraded their habitat by undertaking 2–5 intra‐tropical migrations correlated with the withdrawal of the rains and the onset of the local dry season. The birds arrived to the sites on average 12 days after rains ended and departed about two weeks after the onset of dry season suggesting that the birds closely tracked a spatiotemporal window presumably timed with optimal foraging conditions. Our results provide insights in the ways Palaearctic–African migrants respond to the asynchronous phenology within their sub‐Saharan non‐breeding range. We confirmed that pallid swifts actively respond to deteriorating conditions by repeated upgrades in habitat quality, which likely have substantial consequences for an individual's access to an essential, spatiotemporally ephemeral food resource. However, the pallid swifts did not surf an apparent resource wave per se as would be expected in a highly mobile species, indicating that also other factors, such as spatial patchiness of resources, may influence the movement decision.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly mobile insectivorous swifts perform multiple intra‐tropical migrations to exploit an asynchronous African phenology

Norevik

Boano

Hedenström

et al. 2018

Oikos

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“…Swift vocalisations appear to be simple and largely invariable, so any distinct difference between populations is likely to have considerable taxonomic implications (Gahr 2000, Pellegrino et al 2017. In the case of African Palm Swift this difference is so striking that reference to the scoring system of Tobias et al (2010) seems supererogatory.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species limits in the African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus

Mills

Boesman²,

Collar

2019

Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club

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“…Total genomic DNA was isolated with the NucleoSpin Tissue kit (Macherey-Nagel, Düren, Germany), following the manufacturer's protocols. Afterward, we amplified and sequenced the selected loci, using a combination of published primers following molecular procedures as described in Pellegrino et al (2017). Primer details and annealing temperatures are reported in Table S3.…”

Section: Dna Extraction Amplification and Sequencingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeography of Lanius senator reveals conflicts between alpha taxonomy, subspecies ranges and genetics

Nasuelli

Ilahiane

Boano

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Implementing the effort in understanding biogeographic distribution patterns and taxonomic limits within animal groups is crucial for addressing several challenges of modern zoology. Although avian phylogeography has been deeply investigated within Western Palearctic, several families, such as shrikes, still display complicated or neglected biogeographic patterns both between and within species, thus requiring further investigations. The Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator) is a long-distance migratory species that exhibits three morphologically well-recognizable subspecies, whose boundaries have never been molecularly investigated. Here, we aimed to define the phylogeographic structure of Lanius senator throughout its breeding range and assess the genetic coherence with the phenotypically described subspecies. We assembled a collection of 34 samples mainly from breeding populations of each subspecies and analyzed them at four mtDNA and two nuDNA markers. We did not find a clear phylogenetic structure with nuclear Ornithine Decarboxylase (ODC) and myoglobin intron 2 (MYO), while all the four mtDNA loci (i.e., ND2, COI, cytb and Control Region) highlighted two main haplogroups, one including both the nominate subspecies L. s. senator and L. s. badius and the second consistent with L. s. niloticus only from the easternmost part of the range. Surprisingly, individuals phenotypically assigned to L. s. niloticus from Israel were genetically assigned to the senator/badius haplogroup. Moreover, genetic distances showed intermediate values between inter-intraspecies diversity usually found in Passerines. We estimated a divergence time among the two haplogroups around 800 kya (549 - 1.259 kya HPD). Our findings showed a mismatch in subspecies assignment using morphology and genetic information and a marked differentiation between the eastern L.s. niloticus and all the other L. senator populations.

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So similar and yet so different: taxonomic status of Pallid Swift Apus pallidus and Common Swift Apus apus

Cited by 17 publications

References 40 publications

Highly mobile insectivorous swifts perform multiple intra‐tropical migrations to exploit an asynchronous African phenology

Highly mobile insectivorous swifts perform multiple intra‐tropical migrations to exploit an asynchronous African phenology

Species limits in the African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus

Phylogeography of Lanius senator reveals conflicts between alpha taxonomy, subspecies ranges and genetics

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