White-throated Needletail

Open encyclopedia reference

The white-throated needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus), also known as the needle-tailed swift or spine-tailed swift, is a large swift in the genus Hirundapus. It is reputed to reach speeds of up to 170 km/h (110 mph) in horizontal flight, but this is unverified because the methods used to measure its speed have not been published. 75 km/h (47 mph) is more likely, but this is still at least 100 times the bird's length per second. They build their nests in rock crevices in cliffs or hollow trees. They do not like to sit on the ground and spend most of their time in the air. They feed on small, flying insects like beetles, flies, bees and moths. The white-throated needletail is a migratory bird, breeding in Central Asia and southern Siberia, and wintering south in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. It is a rare vagrant in Western Europe and has been recorded as far west as Norway, Sweden and Great Britain. In June 2013, an individual was spotted in Great Britain for the first time in 22 years.

Wikipedia contributors, White-throated needletail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:02:55.667526+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Hirundapus caudacutus (Latham, 1801)

Name authority

(Latham, 1801)

Common name

White-throated Needletail

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Apodiformes

Family

Apodidae

Genus

Hirundapus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderApodiformes
10. familyApodidae
11. subfamilyApodinae
12. genusHirundapus Hodgson, 1837
13. speciesHirundapus caudacutus (Latham, 1801)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Hirundapus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 90 records assigned to Apodidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=178021 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3M4QB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.