''Chaetura'' is a genus of needletail

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT ...

s found in the Americas. Although they resemble

swallow 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 ...

s, the two are not at all closely related; this is instead a result of

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

. Some members of ''Chaetura'' are long-distance

migrants Migrant may refer to: Human migration *Human migration *Emigration, leaving one's resident country with the intent to settle elsewhere *Immigration, movement into a country with the intent to settle * Economic migrant, someone who emigrates from o ...

, while others are year-round residents. The genus name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''khaite,'' for long flowing hair, and ''oura,'' for tail, referring to the stiff feathers projecting from the end of the tail. * Grey-rumped swift – ''Chaetura cinereiventris'' *

Band-rumped swift The band-rumped swift (''Chaetura spinicaudus'') is a species of bird in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family Apodidae. It is found from Panama south through Colombia into Ecuador, east from Venezuela into the Guianas and Brazil, and on Trini ...

– ''Chaetura spinicauda'' * Lesser Antillean swift – ''Chaetura martinica'' * Costa Rican swift – ''Chaetura fumosa'' * Pale-rumped swift – ''Chaetura egregia'' *

Chimney swift The chimney swift (''Chaetura pelagica'') is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. A member of the genus ''Chaetura'', it is closely related to both the Vaux's swift and the Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes consider ...

– ''Chaetura pelagica'' *

Vaux's swift Vaux's swift (''Chaetura vauxi'') is a small swift native to North America, Central America, and northern South America. It was named for the American scientist William Sansom Vaux. Description This is a small swift, even compared to other '' ...

– ''Chaetura vauxi'' * Chapman's swift – ''Chaetura chapmani'' * Ashy-tailed swift – ''Chaetura andrei'' *

Sick's swift Sick's swift (''Chaetura meridionalis'') is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It was previously considered conspecific with the smaller ashy-tailed swift, but a study published in 1997 found that Sick's swift was closer to the chimney ...

– ''Chaetura meridionalis'' * Short-tailed swift – ''Chaetura brachyura'' A

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

species, ''Chaetura baconica'', was described from

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

deposits of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

References

Bird genera {{Apodiformes-stub