NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
American Cliff Swallow
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot, 1817)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Cliff Swallow at the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, California, USA.
Don DeBold · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The cliff swallow or American cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) is a member of the passerine bird family Hirundinidae, the swallows and martins. The generic name Petrochelidon is derived from the Ancient Greek petros meaning "stone" and khelidon (χελιδών) "swallow", and the specific name pyrrhonota comes from purrhos meaning "flame-coloured" and -notos "-backed".
Cliff swallows are extremely social songbirds that can be found in large nesting colonies reaching over 2,000 nests. They are frequently seen flying overhead in large flocks during migration, gracefully foraging over fields for flying insects or perching tightly together on a wire preening under the sun.
Cliff swallows build gourd-shaped nests made from mud with small entrance holes. They build their nests tightly together, on top of one another, under bridges or alongside mountain cliffs. Living in large populations, these aerial insectivores use extensive vocalizations to communicate warnings or food availability to the other individuals.
Wikipedia contributors, Cliff swallow; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:50:44.300260+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot, 1817)
- Name authority
- (Vieillot, 1817)
- Common name
- American Cliff Swallow
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Hirundinidae
- Genus
- Petrochelidon
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyHirundinidae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusPetrochelidon Cabanis, 1851
- speciesPetrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot, 1817)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Petrochelidon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Streak-throated SwallowPetrochelidon fluvicola (Blyth, 1855) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tree MartinPetrochelidon nigricans (Vieillot, 1817) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chestnut-collared SwallowPetrochelidon rufocollaris (Peale, 1849) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| South African Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon spilodera (Sundevall, 1850) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Preuss's Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon preussi (Reichenow, 1898) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fairy MartinPetrochelidon ariel (Gould, 1842) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cave SwallowPetrochelidon fulva (Vieillot, 1808) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red Sea Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon perdita (Fry & D. A. Smith, 1985) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-throated Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon rufigula (Barboza du Bocage, 1878) | HirundinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Hirundo pyrrhonota Vieillot, 1817 Vieillot, 1817 | synonym |
| Hirundo albifrons Rafinesque, 1822 Rafinesque, 1822 | synonym |
| Petrochelidon albifrons (Rafinesque, 1822) (Rafinesque, 1822) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Middle America
North America
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=178455 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.
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:4FDYV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.