NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Plain Swift
Apus unicolor (Jardine, 1830)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The plain swift (Apus unicolor) is a medium-sized swift. Although this bird is superficially similar to a barn swallow or house martin, it is not related to those passerine species. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles. Swifts have very short legs that they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground, and spend most of their lives in the air, feeding on insects that they catch in their beaks. They drink on the wing. Plain swifts breed in colonies on cliffs, bridges and buildings on the Canary Islands and Madeira, laying two eggs in a saucer-shaped nest made of flowerheads glued with saliva. They are partially migratory, with many birds leaving to winter in mainland Africa. Until recently it was thought that the birds wintered on the African coast but recent studies suggest they travel much further to the equatorial forests of Liberia and Guinea, a distance of 2,600 kilometres.
Wikipedia contributors, Plain swift; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:18:23.167273+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Apus unicolor (Jardine, 1830)
- Name authority
- (Jardine, 1830)
- Common name
- Plain Swift
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Apodidae
- Genus
- Apus
- 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
- orderApodiformes
- familyApodidae
- subfamilyApodinae
- genusApus Scopoli, 1777
- speciesApus unicolor (Jardine, 1830)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Apus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Pallid SwiftApus pallidus (Shelley, 1870) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Malagasy Black SwiftApus balstoni (Bartlett, 1880) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Salim Ali's SwiftApus salimalii Lack, 1958 | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fernando Po SwiftApus sladeniae (Ogilvie-Grant, 1904) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Little SwiftApus affinis (J. E. Gray, 1830) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African Black SwiftApus barbatus (P. L. Sclater, 1866) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Forbes-Watson's SwiftApus berliozi Ripley, 1966 | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bradfield's SwiftApus bradfieldi (Roberts, 1926) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bates's SwiftApus batesi (Sharpe, 1904) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nyanza SwiftApus niansae (Reichenow, 1887) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fork-tailed SwiftApus pacificus (Latham, 1801) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| House SwiftApus nipalensis (Hodgson, 1837) | ApodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Cypselus unicolor Jardine, 1830 Jardine, 1830 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=555006 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:67QF5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.