Purple Needletail

SCI Name:  Hirundapus celebensis
Protonym:  Chaetura gigantea var. celebensis Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1865) (1865), Pt3 p.608
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Apodidae / Hirundapus
Taxonomy Code:  purnee1
Type Locality:  Menado, Celebes.
Author:  Sclater, PL
Publish Year:  1866
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HIRUNDAPUS
(Apodidae; Ϯ White-throated Needletail H. caudacutus nudipes) Portmanteau of genera Hirundo Linnaeus, 1758, swallow, and Apus Scopoli, 1777, swift; “CYPSELUS.  Chætura.   Species 1st. Nudipes, nobis.   ...  Remark. This singular species, by the structure of its feet, opens a passage from Hirundo to Cypselus.  Though variously allied to Pelasgia, Acuta, Caudacuta, and Gigantea, it exhibits, I believe, a distinct type of form—being certainly not a Chætura as defined by STEVENS, nor a Cypselus of ILLIGER; far less a swallow.  It climbs with great power aided equally by its talons and its tail.  Its habitat is the northern region, whence it sometimes wanders into the mountains of the central, avoiding however the open and level country.  I have set it down in my note book as the type of a new genus, called Hirund-apus.” (Hodgson 1837); "Hirund-apus Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 5, 1836 (1837), p. 780.  Type, by original designation and monotypy, Cypselus (Chaetura) nudipes Hodgson." (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 232).
Var. Hirundinapus.
Synon. Pallenia.

celebense / celebensis
Celebes, Dutch East Indies / Sulawesi, Indonesia.