Tachycineta

Tachycineta is a genus of birds in the swallow family Hirundinidae. There are nine described species all restricted to the Americas.

Tachycineta
Tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Hirundinidae
Subfamily:	Hirundininae
Genus:	Tachycineta Cabanis, 1851
Type species
Hirundo thalassina[1] Swainson, 1827
Species
see text
Map includes former distribution in Jamaica

These are slender swallows with forked tails. Most species have a metallic green back, green or blue head, and metallic blue or unglossed brown wings. All have pure white underparts, and four species have a white rump.

Most Tachycineta swallows are at least partially migratory, with only golden and mangrove swallow being essentially resident. All the species use natural or disused cavities for nest sites.

Taxonomy

The genus Tachycineta was introduced by the German ornithologists Jean Cabanisin 1850 with the violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) as the type species.^[2][3] The genus name is from Ancient Greek takhukinētos meaning "moving quickly".^[4]

The genus contains nine species,^[5] divided into two sub-clades that are associated with geography: a North American/Caribbean clade and a South/Central American clade. ^[6]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Tachycineta bicolor	Tree swallow	north-central Alaska and up to the tree line in Canada and as far south as Tennessee in the eastern part of its range, California and New Mexico in the west, and Kansas in the centre
	Tachycineta cyaneoviridis	Bahama swallow	northern Bahamas: Andros, Grand Bahama, Abaco, and New Providence
	Tachycineta thalassina	Violet-green swallow	central Alaska down to Mexico
	Tachycineta euchrysea	Golden swallow	Hispaniola and formerly Jamaica
	Tachycineta albilinea	Mangrove swallow	native to Mexico and all of Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama)
	Tachycineta leucorrhoa	White-rumped swallow	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay
	Tachycineta leucopyga	Chilean swallow	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Falkland Islands, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
	Tachycineta stolzmanni	Tumbes swallow	northwestern Peru and far southwestern Ecuador.
	Tachycineta albiventer	White-winged swallow	tropical South America from Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad south to northern Argentina.