Swifts and Subspecies (1 Viewer)

[Sally Conyne]

I've been doing some work and some thinking regarding subspecies recently, so I've enjoyed the discussion here. Subspecies sure do encourage closer scrutiny in the lab and the field, don't they? I also enjoy the "work in progress" aspects of our knowledge as well as with the species itself.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about swifts and subspecies in general and then, specifically, about Glossy Swiftlet (Collocalia esculenta). This swift is listed as having 32 subspecies by current, major checklists; this is almost 3 times more than any other swift. These subspecies have been described by many different authors over 150+ years. It appears that the species is relatively range-restricted and the ssp. are basically island driven. This is surprising to me probably because I'm more familiar with the mobility of New World species. Do all swifts show extreme nest-site fidelity? I know the difficulty of studying many swift species - are many understudied? Is this one over-studied and over-split? In general, what are the bases for these ssp. distinctions? I'm not even sure that I know all of the right questions to ask here so any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sally Conyne

 

[Richard Klim]

Glossy Swiftlet

Although Glossy Swiftlet is largely sedentary, Chantler & Driessens 1995/2000 (Swifts) comments "It is likely that considerable integration occurs between races"; and Chantler 1999 (HBW5) suggests "Much of variation appears to be clinal".

Richard