Ptyonoprogne fuligula

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Aves
Subclassis: Carinatae
Infraclassis: Neornithes
Parvclassis: Neognathae
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Parvordo: Passerida
Superfamilia: Sylvioidea
Familia: Hirundinidae
Genus: Ptyonoprogne
Species: Ptyonoprogne fuligula
Subspecies: P. f. anderssoni - P. f. bansoensis - P. f. birwae - P. f. birwae - P. f. fuligula - P. f. fusciventris - P. f. peloplasta - P. f. pretoriae - P. f. pusilla - P. f. rufigula

Name

Ptyonoprogne fuligula Lichtenstein, 1842 (former Hirundo fuligula)

Taxonomic notes

Three species of genus Ptyonoprogne have formerly been considered conspecific. The genus Ptyonoprogne is often subsumed into the larger swallow genus Hirundo.

Vernacular names
English: Rock Martin
Русский: Африканская скалистая ласточка

Reference

* Verzeichniss einer Sammlung von Saugethieren und Vogeln aus dem Kaffernland, ... p.18
* Turner, Angela K; Rose, Chris (1989). A handbook to the swallows and martins of the world. Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7470-3202-5.

* Dickinson, Edward C.; Moore, Alick; Howard, Richard (2003). Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of Birds of the World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-11701-0.

The Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family that is resident in Africa, and in southwestern Asia east to Pakistan. It breeds mainly in the mountains, but also at lower altitudes, especially in rocky areas and around towns, and, unlike most swallows, it is often found far from water. It is 12–15 cm (4.7–5.9 in) long, with mainly brown plumage, paler-toned on the upper breast and underwing coverts, and with white "windows" on the spread tail in flight. The sexes are similar in appearance, but juveniles have pale fringes to the upperparts and flight feathers. The northern subspecies are smaller, paler, and whiter-throated than southern African forms, and are sometimes split as a separate species, the "Pale Crag Martin". The Rock Martin hunts along cliff faces for flying insects using a slow flight with much gliding. Its call is a soft twitter.

This martin builds a deep bowl nest on a sheltered horizontal surface, or a neat quarter-sphere against a vertical rock face or wall. The nest is constructed with mud pellets and lined with grass or feathers, and may be built on natural sites under cliff overhangs or on man-made structures such as buildings, dam walls, culverts and bridges. It is often reused for subsequent broods or in later years. This species is a solitary breeder, and is not gregarious, but small groups may breed close together in suitable locations. The two or three eggs of a typical clutch are white with brown and grey blotches, and are incubated by both adults for 16–19 days prior to hatching. Both parents then feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 22–24 days, but the young birds will return to the nest to roost for a few days after the first flight.

This small martin is caught in flight by several fast, agile falcon species, such as hobbies, and it sometimes carries parasites, but it faces no major threats. Because of its range of nearly 10 million km2 (4 million sq mi) and large, apparently stable, population, it is not seen as vulnerable and is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Taxonomy

The Rock Martin was formally described in 1842 as Hirundo fuligula by German physician, explorer and zoologist Martin Lichtenstein[2] and was moved to the new genus Ptyonoprogne by German ornithologist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1850.[3] Its nearest relatives are the two other members of the genus, the Dusky Crag Martin P. concolor of southern Asia and the Eurasian Crag Martin P. rupestris.[4] The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek ptuon (φτυον), "a fan", referring to the shape of the opened tail, and Procne (Πρόκνη), a mythological girl who was turned into a swallow.[5] The specific name fuligula means "sooty-throated", from Latin fuligo "soot" and gula "throat".[6]

The three Ptyonoprogne species are members of the swallow family of birds, and are classed as members of the Hirundininae subfamily, which comprises all swallows and martins except the very distinctive river martins. DNA sequence studies suggest that there are three major groupings within the Hirundininae, broadly correlating with the type of nest built.[7] The groups are the "core martins" including burrowing species like the Sand Martin, the "nest-adopters", which are birds like the Tree Swallow that utilise natural cavities, and the "mud nest builders". The Ptyonoprogne species construct open mud nests and therefore belong to the last group. Hirundo species also build open nests, Delichon house martins have a closed nest, and the Cecropis and Petrochelidon swallows have retort-like closed nests with an entrance tunnel.[8]

The genus Ptyonoprogne is closely related to the larger swallow genus Hirundo into which it is often subsumed, but a DNA analysis showed that a coherent enlarged Hirundo genus should contain all the mud-builder genera. Although the nests of the Ptyonoprogne crag martins resembles those of typical Hirundo species like the Barn Swallow, the DNA research showed that if the Delichon house martins are considered to be a separate genus, as is normally the case, Cecropis, Petrochelidon and Ptyonoprogne should also be split off.[7]

In areas of Pakistan where its range overlaps with that of the Dusky Crag Martin, and in North Africa where it meets the Eurasian Crag Martin, the Rock Martin breeds at a different altitude from the other Ptyonoprogne species. This altitudinal separation means that it is not known whether these closely related martins could hybridise. If they were shown to do so, it would cast doubts on their specific distinctness.[9]

Subspecies

There are several subspecies differing in plumage shade or size, although the differences are clinal, and races interbreed where their ranges meet. The small, pale subspecies (obsoleta, pallida, presaharica, spatzi, arabica and buchanani) found in the mountains of North Africa and the Arabian peninsula are sometimes split as a separate species, the Pale Crag Martin, Ptyonoprogne obsoleta,[10][11] following German ornithologist Jean Cabanis, who first formally described these birds,[12] but the changes in size and colour are continuous, and the forms often intergrade where they meet, so the evidence for separate species is not strong.[10] The southern forms can weigh more than twice as much as the smallest northern subspecies. The average weight for P. f. fusciventris is 22.4 g (0.79 oz) against 10 g (0.35 oz) for P. f. obsoleta.[13] The robust, large-billed southernmost forms (P. f. fuligula, P. f. pretoriae, and P. f. anderssoni) are sufficiently different from dark, fine-billed P. f. fusciventris that the latter could also be regarded as a potentially different species. However, Rhodesian ornithologist Michael Irwin collected specimens from southern Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) which were dark above like P. f. fusciventris and rich reddish below like P. f. fuligula. This led him to suggest that the two groups had previously been isolated, but were probably hybridising following secondary contact.[14]
Subspecies of the Rock Martin[1]
Subspecies Authority[2] Range Comments
P. f. fuligula (Lichtenstein, 1842) Eastern Cape. The nominate subspecies.
P. f. pusilla (Zedlitz, 1908) Mali to western Sudan and most of Ethiopia. Paler plumage and smaller than the nominate subspecies.
P. f. fusciventris (Vincent, 1933) Southern Sudan and Ethiopia south to northern Mozambique. Smaller than P. f. pusilla with dark plumage.
P. f. bansoensis (Bannerman, 1923) West and central Africa. Small, and very dark plumage.
P. f. anderssoni (Sharpe & Wyatt, 1887) Southwestern Cape north to southern Angola. Size similar to nominate, but paler plumage.
P. f. pretoriae (Roberts, 1922) Eastern South Africa. Plumage as nominate, but larger.
P. f. obsoleta (Cabanis, 1850) Egypt east to southwestern Iran. Grey brown, paler than the Eurasian Crag Martin.
P. f. spatzi (Geyr von Schweppenburg, 1916) South central Algeria, southern Libya, Chad and Mali. Dusky brown plumage with a buff throat, breast and belly.
P. f. presaharica (Vaurie, 1953) Morocco, northern Algeria, Mauritania. Paler and sandier plumage than P. f. spatzi.
P. f. buchanani (Hartert, 1921) Aïr Mountains of Niger. Intermediate between the paler northern subspecies and darker southern forms.[15]
P. f. arabica (Reichenow, 1905) Southwest Arabia, eastern Sudan, northern Somalia and Socotra. Like P. f. buchanani but larger.
P. f. perpallida (Vaurie, 1951) Northeast Arabia, southern Iraq. Whitish grey upperparts, white chin and upper breast.
P. f. peroplasta (Hume, 1872) Central Iran east to Pakistan. Sandier plumage tone than P. f. obsoleta.

Table footnotes:

1. ^ The table is based on Turner (1989).[10]
2. ^ Parentheses indicate that the scientific name has changed from that originally given.

Description

The Rock Martin of the nominate subspecies P. f. fuligula is 12–15 cm (4.7–5.9 in)[16] long with earth-brown upperparts and a short square tail that has small white patches near the tips of all but the central and outermost pairs of feathers. It has a cinnamon chin, throat, upper breast and underwing coverts, with the rest of the underparts being a similar brown to the upperparts. The eyes are brown, the small bill is mainly black, and the legs are brownish-pink. The sexes are similar in appearance, but juveniles have pale edges to the upperparts and flight feathers. The other subspecies differ from the nominate form as detailed above. Northern subspecies are generally smaller and have paler plumage than those in southern regions; they also have a white chin and throat, whereas southern forms have these areas rufous brown. Feather moult starts during the breeding season for the northern subspecies, but southern races can moult in any month, with only a minority doing so in the July to September nesting peak.[10]

The Rock Martin's flight is slow, with rapid wing beats interspersed with flat-winged glides, and it is more acrobatic than the larger Eurasian Crag Martin.[11] It is a quiet bird; the song is a muffled twitter, and other calls include a trrt resembling the call of the Common House Martin, a nasal vick,[17] and a high pitched twee contact call.[10]

The Rock Martin is much drabber than most African swallows, and confusion is unlikely except with other crag martins or with sand martins of the genus Riparia.[10] The northern races are 15% smaller, paler and greyer than the Eurasian Crag Martin,[18] and have smaller tail spots.[19] Although only slightly larger than the Sand Martin and Brown-throated Sand Martin, the Rock Martin is more robust, has white tail spots, and lacks a breast band.[18] Even the dark southern races are still paler on the throat, breast and underwings than the all-dark form of the Brown-throated Sand Martin.[16] In the far east of its range, the Rock Martin always has lighter, more contrasted underparts than the Dusky Crag Martin.[4]

Distribution and habitat

The Rock Martin breeds in suitable habitat throughout Africa and through the Middle East as far as Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is largely resident apart from local movements or a descent to lower altitudes after breeding. In addition, there is some short-range movement, including martins from southern Arabia crossing the Red Sea and joining the local breeding birds,[10] and pale northern birds (P. f. spatzi and P. f. presaharica) wintering in Mali and Mauritania.[20] This species has been recorded as a vagrant in Kuwait and Gabon, and its status in Congo is uncertain.[1][18]

The natural breeding habitat is hilly or mountainous country with cliffs, gorges and caves up to 3,700 m (12,000 ft) above sea level,[21] but this martin also breeds in lowlands, especially if rocks or buildings are available, and may be found far from water. This species readily uses man-made structures as a substitute for natural precipices,[10] and has bred on houses in southern Israel since the 1970s. In Egypt it may breed near monuments like Abu Simbel or in desert towns such as Aswan.[18] In Pakistan, the breeding range of the subspecies P. f. peloplasta overlaps with that of the Dusky Crag Martin, although that species breeds at much lower levels,[10] and in North Africa P. f. obsoleta occupies desert habitats whilst the Eurasian Crag Martin is found in the mountains.[11]

Behaviour

Breeding

Rock Martin pairs often nest alone, although where suitable sites are available small loose colonies may form. These are more common south of the Sahara, where up to 40 pairs together have been recorded. These martins aggressively defend their nesting territory against conspecifics and other species. In Africa breeding dates vary geographically and with local weather conditions, and April to June is normal in Asia. Two broods are common, and three have been raised in a season. The nest, built by both adults over several weeks, is made from several hundred mud pellets and lined with soft dry grass or sometimes feathers. It may be a half-cup when constructed under an overhang on a vertical wall or cliff, or a shaped as a bowl like that of the Barn Swallow when placed on a sheltered ledge. The nest may be built on a rock cliff face, in a crevice or on a man-made structure, and is re-used for the second brood and in subsequent years.[10][21]

The clutch is usually two or three buff-white eggs blotched with sepia or grey-brown particularly at the wide end. The average egg size varies from 20.8 x 14.1 mm (0.82 x 0.56 in) with a weight of 2.17 g (0.077 oz) in South Africa to 19.3 x 12.9 mm (0.76 x 0.51 in) with a weight of 1.7 g (0.06 oz) in Asia. Both adults incubate the eggs for 16–19 days prior to hatching and feed the chicks about ten times an hour until they fledge and for several days after they can fly. The fledging time can vary from 22–24 days to 25–30 days, though the latter estimates probably take into account fledged young returning to the nest for food.[10]

Feeding

The Rock Martin feeds mainly on insects caught in flight, although it will occasionally feed on the ground. When breeding, birds often fly back and forth along a rock face catching insects in their bills and feed close to the nesting territory. At other times, they may hunt low over open ground. The insects caught depend on what is locally available, but may include mosquitoes and other flies, Hymenoptera, ants and beetles. This martin often feeds alone, but sizeable groups may gather at grass fires to feast on the fleeing insects, and outside the breeding season flocks of up to 300 may form where food is abundant.[10] Cliff faces generate standing waves in the airflow which concentrate insects near vertical areas. Crag martins exploit the area close to the cliff when they hunt, relying on their high manoeuvrability and ability to perform tight turns.[22]

A study of nine bird species including four hirundinines showed that the more young there are in a nest, the more frequent are the parents' feeding visits, but the visits do not increase in proportion to the number of young. On average a solitary nestling therefore gets more food than a member of a pair or of a trio. Since the nestling period is not prolonged in proportion to the drop in feeding rate, an individual fledgling from a larger brood is likely to weigh less when it leaves the nest. However, a subspecies of the Rock Martin (P. f. fusciventris) was an anomaly in respect of both feeding rate and nestling time. There was no difference in parental feeding rate for members of a pair and members of a trio, but the nestling period averaged 1.5 days longer for trios than pairs.[23]

Predators and parasites

Some falcons have the speed and agility to catch swallows and martins in flight, and Rock Martins may be hunted by species such as the Peregrine Falcon,[24] Taita Falcon,[25] African Hobby and wintering Eurasian Hobby.[26] Rock Martins often share their nesting sites with Little Swifts,[27] which sometimes forcibly take over martin's nests.[28] In 1975 one of the first findings of the tick Argas (A.) africolumbae was in a nest of Ptyonoprogne fuligula fusciventris in Kenya,[29] at that time the martin was described under its synonym Ptyonoprogne fuligula rufigula (Fischer & Reichenow).[11]

Status

The Rock Martin has a very large range of 9.5 million km2 (3.7 million sq mi). The total population is unknown, but the bird is described as generally common, although scarce in Botswana and Namibia. The population is thought to be stable, mainly due to the absence of evidence of any declines or substantial threats. Its large range and presumably high numbers mean that the Rock Martin is not considered to be threatened, and it is classed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[1]

References

1. ^ a b c "Species factsheet Hirundo fuligula ". BirdLife International. http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=7114&m=1. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
2. ^ a b Lichtenstein, Martin (1842) (in German). Verzeichniss einer Sammlung von Säugethieren und Vögeln aus dem Kaffernlande, nebst einer Käffersammlung [Directory of a collection of mammals and birds from the Kaffir country]. Berlin: Royal Academy of Sciences. p. 18.
3. ^ Reichenbach (1850) plate LXXXVII figure 6.
4. ^ a b Turner (1989) pp. 158–164.
5. ^ "Crag Martin Ptyonoprogne rupestris [Scopoli, 1769"]. Bird facts. British Trust for Ornithology. http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob9910.htm. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
6. ^ Brookes et al. (2003) pp. 596, 660.
7. ^ a b Sheldon, Frederick H; Whittingham, Linda A; Moyle, Robert G; Slikas, Beth; Winkler, David W (2005). "Phylogeny of swallows (Aves: Hirundinidae) estimated from nuclear and mitochondrial DNA". Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 35 (1): 254–270. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.008. PMID 15737595.
8. ^ Winkler, David W; Sheldon, Frederick H (1993). "Evolution of nest construction in swallows (Hirundinidae): A molecular phylogenetic perspective" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 90: 5705–5707. doi:10.1073/pnas.90.12.5705. http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/view_online.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcontent%2F90%2F12%2F5705.full.pdf.
9. ^ Turner (1989) pp. 163–164.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Turner (1989) pp. 160–163.
11. ^ a b c d Bergier, Patrick (2007). "L'Hirondelle isabelline Ptyonoprogne fuligula au Maroc [The Rock Martin in Morocco"] (in French). Go-South Bulletin 4: 6–25. http://www.go-south.org/go-south-bulletin/go-south_bull_4_6-25.pdf.
12. ^ Cabanis, Jean (1850) (in German). Museum Heineanum Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstatdt. Mit kritischen Anmerkungen und Beschriebung der neuen Arten, systematisch bearbeitet von Dr. Jean Cabanis, erstem Kustos der Königlichen zoologischen Sammlung zu Berlin [The directory of the ornithological collection of bailiff Ferdinand Heine at the Museum Heineanum in Gut St. Burchard, Halberstatdt. With critical remarks and descriptions of new species by Dr. Jean Cabanis, first curator of the Royal Zoological collection in Berlin.]. 1. Halberstadt: R. Frantz. p. 50.
13. ^ Dunning (1993) p.327.
14. ^ Irwin, Michael P S (1977). "Variation, geographical arcs and gene-flow within the populations of the rock martin Hirundo (Ptyonoprogne) fuligula in eastern, southern and south-western Africa". Honeyguide 91: 10–19.
15. ^ de Schauensee, Rodolphe Meyer (1949). Results of the Carpenter African Expedition, 1947–1948: Part I Birds. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. p. 11.
16. ^ a b Sinclair et al. (2002) p. 298.
17. ^ Mullarney et al (1999) p. 240.
18. ^ a b c d Snow & Perrins (1998) pp. 1058–1059.
19. ^ Barlow et al. (1997) p. 80
20. ^ Barlow et al. (1997) pp. 276–277.
21. ^ a b Baker (1926) pp. 238–239
22. ^ Fantur, von Roman (1997). "Die Jagdstrategie der Felsenschwalbe (Hirundo rupestris) [The hunting strategy of the crag martin"] (in German with English summary). Carinthia 187 (107): 229–252. http://www.biologiezentrum.at/pdf_frei_remote/CAR_187_107_0229-0252.pdf.
23. ^ Moreau, R E (November 1947). "Relations between number in brood, feeding-rate and nestling period in nine species of birds in Tanganyika Territory". Journal of Animal Ecology 16 (2): 205–209. doi:10.2307/1495. http://jstor.org/stable/1495.
24. ^ Simmons, Robert E; Jenkins, Andrew R; Brown Christopher J “A review of the population status and threats to Peregrine Falcons throughout Namibia” in Sielicki & Mizera (2008) pp. 99–108
25. ^ Dowsett, R J; Douglas, M. G.; Stead, D. E.; Taylor, V. A.; Alder, J. R.; Carter, A. T. (July 1983). "Breeding and other observations on the Taita Falcon Falco fasciinucha". Ibis 125 (3): 362–366. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1979.tb05020.x.
26. ^ Barlow et al. (1997) p. 165.
27. ^ Chantler & Driessens (2000) p. 241
28. ^ Carr, B A (1984). "Nest eviction of rock martins by little swifts". Ostrich 55 (4): 223–224.
29. ^ Hoogstraal, Harry; Kaiser, Makram N; Walker, Jane B; Ledger, John A; Converse, James D; Rice, Robin G A (June 1975). "Observations on the subgenus Argas (Ixodoidea: Argasidae: Argas) 10. A. (A.) africolumbae, n. sp., a Pretoria virus-infected parasite of birds in southern and eastern Africa". Journal of Medical Entomology 12 (2): 194–210.. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/jme/1975/00000012/00000002/art00006.

Cited texts

* Baker, E C S (1926). Fauna of British India. Birds. 3 (2 ed.). London: Taylor and Francis.
* Barlow, Clive; Wacher, Tim; Disley, Tony (1997). A field guide to birds of The Gambia and Senegal. Robertsbridge: Pica Press. ISBN 1-873403-32-1.
* Brookes, Ian (editor-in-chief) (2003). The Chambers Dictionary (ninth ed.). Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap. ISBN 055010013X.
* Chantler, Phil; Driessens, Gerald (2000). Swifts. Robertsbridge: Pica. ISBN 1873403836.
* Dunning, John Barnard (1993). CRC handbook of avian body masses. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8493-4258-9.
* Mullarney, Killian; Svensson, Lars; Zetterstrom, Dan; Grant, Peter (1999). Collins Bird Guide. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-219728-6.
* Reichenbach, Heinrich Gustav (1850) (in German). Avium systema naturale. Dresden and Leipzig:: F. Hofmeister.
* Sielicki, Janusz; Mizera, Tadeusz. (editors) (2008). Peregrine Falcon Populations – status and perspectives in the 21st Century. Warsaw and Poznań: Turul and University of Life Sciences. ISBN 978-83-920969-6-2.
* Sinclair, Ian; Hockey, Phil; Tarboton, Warwick (2002). SASOL Birds of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 1-86872-721-1.
* Snow, David; Perrins, Christopher M (editors) (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic concise edition (2 volumes). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854099-X.
* Turner, Angela K; Rose, Chris (1989). A Handbook to the Swallows and Martins of the World. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7470-3202-5.