The Red Sea cliff swallow (''Petrochelidon perdita''), also known as the Red Sea swallow, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Hirundinidae The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The t ...

Distribution and habitat

It is possibly

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. It is known only from a single specimen, found in May 1984 at the Sanganeb lighthouse, north-east of

Port Sudan Port Sudan (, Beja: ) is a port city on the Red Sea in eastern Sudan, and the capital of Red Sea State. Port Sudan is Sudan's main seaport and the source of 90% of the country's international trade. The population of Port Sudan was estimated in ...

, Sudan. This enigmatic swallow may still exist, though the lack of recent records is puzzling. Unidentified swallows have been sighted in

Lake Langano Lake Langano (Oromo language, Oromo: ''Hora Langaanoo'', Amharic language, Amharic: ላንጋኖ ሐይቅ) is a lake in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, exactly 200 kilometers by road south of the capital, Addis Ababa, on the border between the Ea ...

(c. 20 birds) and in

Awash National Park Awash National Park is a National parks in Ethiopia, national park in Ethiopia. Located at the border of Oromia state and Afar Region, Afar state, the park covers an area of 827 square kilometers, most of it lies at an altitude of 900 meters. ...

(3–8 birds) in the

East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. It was formerly considered to be part of a l ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Its scientific name means ''the lost swallow'' and it has been suggested that it might breed in the hills surrounding the Red Sea in Sudan or Ethiopia. The Lake Langano birds had blue-black upper parts with a rump varying from off-white to pale pink to rufous whilst the Awash swallows are described as having brownish throats and brownish-white underparts. The variations are not conclusive for attribution to the original specimen but cliff swallows are variable.A Handbook To The Swallows And Martins Of The World: Angela Turner, Christopher Helm Press, London, (1989) It is alternatively placed in the genus ''Hirundo''.

References

;Citations ;Sources * BirdLife International (2007) Species factsheet: Hirundo perdita. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 14 August 2007 Petrochelidon Fauna of the Red Sea Endemic fauna of Sudan Birds described in 1985 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Species known from a single specimen {{Hirundinidae-stub