The crag martins are five species of small
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
birds in the
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''Ptyonoprogne'' of the
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 ...
family. They are the
Eurasian crag martin (''P. rupestris''), the
pale crag martin (''P. obsoleta''), the
dusky crag martin (''P. concolor''), the
large rock martin
The large rock martin (''Ptyonoprogne fuligula''), also known as the southern crag-martin, is a small passerine bird in the swallow family that is resident in southern Africa. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the red-throated roc ...
(''P. fuligula'') and the
red-throated rock martin
The red-throated rock martin (''Ptyonoprogne rufigula''), also known as the red-throated crag-martin, is a small passerine bird in the swallow family, Hirundinidae. It is found over a large area of Africa from Sierra Leone eastwards to Eritrea an ...
(''P. rufigula''). They are closely related to each other, and have formerly sometimes been considered to be one species. They are closely related to the ''
Hirundo
The bird genus ''Hirundo'' is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). The genus name is Latin for a swallow. These are the typical swallows, including the widespread barn swallow. Many of this group have blue back ...
'' barn swallows and are placed in that genus by some authorities. These are small swallows with brown upperparts, paler underparts without a breast band, and a square tail with white patches. They can be distinguished from each other on size, the colour shade of the upperparts and underparts, and minor plumage details like throat colour. They resemble the
sand martin
The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as collared sand martin or common sand martin, and in the Americas as the bank swallow, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has a wide range in summer, embracing ...
, but are darker below, and lack a breast band.
These are species of craggy mountainous
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s, although all five will also frequent human habitation. The two African rock martins and the south Asian dusky crag martin are resident, but the Eurasian crag martin is a partial
migrant; birds breeding in southern Europe are largely resident, but some northern breeders and most Asian birds are migratory, wintering in north Africa or
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. They do not normally form large breeding colonies, but are more gregarious outside the breeding season. These martins build neat mud
nests
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...
under
cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...
overhangs or in crevices in their mountain homes, and have readily adapted to the artificial cliffs provided by buildings and motorway bridges. Up to five
eggs
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop.
Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to:
Biology
* Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms
Food
* Eggs as food
Places
* Egg, Austria
* Egg, Switzerland ...
, white with dark blotches at the wider end, may be laid, and a second
clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...
is common. ''Ptyonoprogne'' martins feed mainly on
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
s caught in flight, and patrol cliffs near the breeding site with a slow hunting flight as they seek their prey. They may be hunted by
falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...
s and infected with
mite
Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...
s and
flea
Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...
s, but their large ranges and populations mean that none of the crag martins are considered to be threatened, and all are classed as
Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
on the
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Ptyonoprogne'' was introduced in 1850 by the German naturalist
Ludwig Reichenbach
Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate m ...
but in his publication he did not list any species for his new genus. In 1857 the French natural-history dealer
Émile Parzudaki placed a single species, ''Hirundo rupestris''
Scopoli
Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (sometimes Latinized as Johannes Antonius Scopolius) (3 June 1723 – 8 May 1788) was an Italian physician and naturalist. His biographer Otto Guglia named him the "first anational European" and the "Linnaeus of the Au ...
, 1769 (the
Eurasian crag martin) in the genus so this is now the
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
. The genus name is derived from the Greek ''ptuon'' (πτύον), "a fan", referring to the shape of the opened tail, and
Procne
Procne (; , ''Próknē'' ) or Progne is a minor figure in Greek mythology. She was an Athens, Athenian princess as the elder daughter of a king of Athens named Pandion I, Pandion. Procne was married to the king of Thrace, Tereus, who instead lu ...
(Πρόκνη), a mythological girl who was turned into a swallow.
The genus ''Ptyonoprogne'' is
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...
to the genus ''
Hirundo
The bird genus ''Hirundo'' is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). The genus name is Latin for a swallow. These are the typical swallows, including the widespread barn swallow. Many of this group have blue back ...
''.
The genus now contains five species.
These are members of the swallow family of birds, and are placed in the subfamily Hirundininae, which comprises all swallows and martins except the very distinctive
river martin
The river martins form a distinctive subfamily Pseudochelidoninae within the swallow and martin bird family Hirundinidae. The two species are the African river martin ''Pseudochelidon eurystomina'', found in the Congo and Gabon, and the white- ...
s.
DNA sequence
A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...
studies suggest that there are three major groupings within the Hirundininae, broadly correlating with the type of nest built.
The groups are the "core martins" including burrowing species like the
sand martin
The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as collared sand martin or common sand martin, and in the Americas as the bank swallow, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has a wide range in summer, embracing ...
, the "nest-adopters", which are birds like the
tree swallow
The tree swallow (''Tachycineta bicolor'') is a migratory bird of the family Hirundinidae. Found in the Americas, the tree swallow was first described in 1807 by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot as ''Hirundo bicolor''. It has since been mov ...
that utilise natural cavities, and the "mud nest builders". ''Ptyonoprogne'' species construct a mud nest and therefore belong to the last group; They resemble the ''
Hirundo
The bird genus ''Hirundo'' is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). The genus name is Latin for a swallow. These are the typical swallows, including the widespread barn swallow. Many of this group have blue back ...
'' species in that they make open cup nests, whereas ''
Delichon
''Delichon'' is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family and contains four species called house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and ...
'' martins build closed cups, and the ''
Cecropis
''Cecropis'' is a genus of large swallows found in Africa and tropical Asia. The red-rumped swallow's range also extends into southern Europe, and (in small numbers) into Australia. This genus is frequently subsumed into the larger genus ''Hirun ...
'' and ''
Petrochelidon
''Petrochelidon'' is a genus of birds known as cliff-nesting swallows. The genus name ''Petrochelidon'' is from the Greek words ''petra'', "rock", and ''khelidon'', "swallow".
The genus includes all of the five species of birds commonly called ...
'' swallows, have
retort-like closed nests with an entrance tunnel.
The genus ''Ptyonoprogne'' is closely related to the larger swallow genus ''Hirundo'' into which it is often subsumed, but a DNA analysis showed that a coherent enlarged genus ''Hirundo'' should contain ''all'' the mud-builder genera. Although the nests of the ''Ptyonoprogne'' crag martins resembles those of typical ''Hirundo'' species like the
barn swallow
The barn swallow (''Hirundo rustica'') is the most widespread species of swallow in the world, occurring on all continents, with vagrants reported even in Antarctica. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts and a long, deeply f ...
, the DNA research showed that if the ''
Delichon
''Delichon'' is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family and contains four species called house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and ...
'' house martins are considered to be a separate genus, as is normally the case, ''
Cecropis
''Cecropis'' is a genus of large swallows found in Africa and tropical Asia. The red-rumped swallow's range also extends into southern Europe, and (in small numbers) into Australia. This genus is frequently subsumed into the larger genus ''Hirun ...
'', ''
Petrochelidon
''Petrochelidon'' is a genus of birds known as cliff-nesting swallows. The genus name ''Petrochelidon'' is from the Greek words ''petra'', "rock", and ''khelidon'', "swallow".
The genus includes all of the five species of birds commonly called ...
'' and ''Ptyonoprogne'' should also be split off.
[
The small, pale northern subspecies of crag martin found in the mountains of ]North Africa
North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
and the Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
n peninsula is now usually split as the pale crag martin, ''Ptyonoprogne obsoleta''. The remaining birds are now identified as Eurasian crag martin.
The following cladogram is based on a molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
study of the 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 ...
by Drew Schield and collaborators that was published in 2024.[
]
List of crag martin species
Description
These martins are 12–15 cm (4.7–5.9 in) long with drab brown or grey plumage and a short square tail that has small white patches near the tips of all but the central and outermost pairs of feathers. The eyes are brown, the small bill is mainly black, and the legs are brownish-pink. The sexes are similar, but juveniles show pale edges to the upperparts and flight feathers. The species differ in plumage shades and size, Eurasian crag martin being significantly larger than the others. The flight is slow, with rapid wing beats interspersed with flat-winged glides.[Turner (1989) pp. 158–164] The songs of these birds are simple twitterings, and contact calls include a high-pitched ''twee'' or ''chi, chi'', and a ''tshir'' or ''trrt'' call like that of the house martin
''Delichon'' is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family and contains four species called house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and ...
.[Mullarney ''et al'' (1999) p.240]
These drab martins can only be confused with each other, or with sand martins of the genus ''Riparia''. Even the smaller ''Ptyonoprogne'' species are slightly larger and more robust than the sand martin
The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as collared sand martin or common sand martin, and in the Americas as the bank swallow, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has a wide range in summer, embracing ...
and brown-throated sand martin, and have the white tail spots which are absent from the ''Riparia'' martins.[ Where the ranges of ''Ptyonoprogne'' species overlap, the Eurasian crag martin is darker, browner and 15% larger than the rock martin,][Snow & Perrins (1998) pp. 1059–1061] and larger and paler, particularly on its underparts, than the dusky crag martin.[Grimmett ''et al'' (2002) p. 268] The white tail spots of the Eurasian crag martin are significantly larger than those of both its relatives. In the east of its range, the rock martin always has lighter, more contrasted underparts than the dusky crag martin.[
]
Distribution and habitat
These are exclusively Old World species. The rock martin breeds throughout Africa and through the Middle East as far as Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is replaced by the dusky crag martin further east in India and Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...
. The Eurasian crag martin breeds from Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
and northwesternmost Africa through southern Europe, the Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
and the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
to southwestern and northeastern China. Northern populations of the Eurasian crag martin are migratory, with European birds wintering in north Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia and the Nile Valley
The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...
, and Asian breeders going to southern China, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. Some European birds stay north of the Mediterranean, and, like populations in warmer areas such as India, Turkey and Cyprus, just move to lower ground after breeding. The dusky crag martin and rock are largely resident apart from local movements after breeding, when many birds descend to lower altitudes,[ although some pale northern rock martins from North African and southern Arabian may winter further south alongside the local subspecies in Ethiopia, Mali and Mauritania.][Barlow ''et al.'' (1997) pp. 276–277]
The crag martins mainly breed on dry, warm and sheltered cliffs in mountainous areas with crags and gorges, and the Eurasian crag martin reaches 5,000 m (16,500 ft) in Central Asia. The use of buildings as artificial cliffs has enabled breeding expansion into lowland areas, particularly for the two tropical species,[ and the rock martin breeds in desert towns.][Snow & Perrins (1998) pp. 1058–1059] In South Asia, migrant Eurasian birds sometimes join with flocks of the dusky crag martin and roost communally on ledges of cliffs or buildings in winter.[Ali & Ripley (1986) pp. 53–54]
Behaviour
Breeding
Martin pairs often nest alone, although where suitable sites are available small loose colonies
A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...
may form. These are more common south of the Sahara, where up to 40 rock martin pairs together have been recorded. Crag martins aggressively defend their nesting territory against conspecifics and other species. The nest, built by both adults over several weeks, is made from several hundred mud pellets and lined with soft dry grass or sometimes feathers. It may be a half-cup when constructed under an overhang on a vertical wall or cliff, or shaped as a bowl like that of the barn swallow when placed on a sheltered ledge. The nest may be built on a rock cliff face, in a crevice or on a man-made structure, and is re-used for the second brood and in subsequent years. Usually two broods are raised, and the rock martin may nest for a third time in a season.[
The clutch is two to five eggs that are white with brownish, ruddy or grey blotches particularly at the wide end. The egg size ranges from an average 20.2 x 14.0 mm (0.80 x 0.55 in) with a weight of 2.08 g (0.073 oz) for the Eurasian crag martin to 17.7 x 13.0 mm (0.70 x 0.51 in) with a weight of 1.57 g (0.06 oz) for the dusky crag martin. Both adults incubate the eggs for 13–19 days to hatching, and feed the chicks at least ten times an hour until they fledge 24–27 days later. The fledged young continue to be fed by the parents for some time after they can fly.][
]
Feeding
''Ptyonoprogne'' martins feed mainly on insects caught in flight, although they will occasionally feed on the ground. When breeding, birds often fly back and forth along a rock face catching insects in their bills and usually feeding close to the nesting territory. To maintain the high frequency with which the young are fed, the adults mainly forage in the best hunting zones in the immediate vicinity of the nest, since the further they have to fly to catch insects, the longer it would take to bring food to the chicks in the nest.[ At other times, they may hunt low over open ground. The insects taken depend on what is locally available, but may include ]mosquito
Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...
es and other flies
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...
, aerial spiders, ant
Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
s and beetle
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
s. Martins often feed alone, but sizeable groups may congregate if food is abundant, such as where insects are fleeing grass fires. The Eurasian crag martin may take aquatic species such as stoneflies
Plecoptera is an order of insects commonly known as stoneflies. Some 3,500 species are described worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica. Stoneflies are believed to be one of the most ...
, caddisflies
The caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis ...
and pond skaters.[ Cliff faces generate ]standing wave
In physics, a standing wave, also known as a stationary wave, is a wave that oscillates in time but whose peak amplitude profile does not move in space. The peak amplitude of the wave oscillations at any point in space is constant with respect t ...
s in the airflow which concentrate insects near vertical areas. Crag martins exploit the area close to the cliff when they hunt, relying on their high manoeuvrability and ability to perform tight turns.
Predators and parasites
The crag martins may be hunted by fast, agile birds of prey such as the African hobby or Eurasian hobby
The Eurasian hobby (''Falco subbuteo'') or just hobby, is a small, slim falcon. It belongs to a group of similar falcons often considered a subgenus '' Hypotriorchis''.
Taxonomy and systematics
The first formal description of the Eurasian hobby ...
that specialise in catching swallows and martins in flight,[Barlow ''et al.'' (1997) p. 165] and by other falcons such as the peregrine and Taita falcon
The Taita falcon (''Falco fasciinucha'') is a small falcon found in central and eastern Africa. It was first described from the Taita Hills of Kenya from which it derives its name.
Description
The Taita falcon is a small, rare raptor species. ...
s.[Simmons, Robert E; Jenkins, Andrew R; Brown Christopher J]
A review of the population status and threats to Peregrine Falcons throughout Namibia
" in Sielicki & Mizera (2008) pp. 99–108 Crows may attack migrating Eurasian crag martins,[ and that species also treats ]common kestrel
The common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus''), also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel or Old World kestrel, is a species of bird of prey, predatory bird belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family (biology), family Falconidae. ...
s, Eurasian sparrowhawk
The Eurasian sparrowhawk (''Accipiter nisus''), also known as the northern sparrowhawk or simply the sparrowhawk, is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Adult male Eurasian sparrowhawks have bluish grey upperparts and orange-barred ...
s, Eurasian jay
The Eurasian jay (''Garrulus glandarius'') is a species of passerine bird in the crow family Corvidae. It has pinkish brown plumage with a black stripe on each side of a whitish throat, a bright blue panel on the upper wing and a black tail. The ...
s and common raven
The common raven or northern raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all Corvidae, corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. There are 11 accepted subspecies with little variatio ...
s as predators if they approach the nesting cliffs.[ The dusky crag martin has been recorded in the diet of the ]greater false vampire bat
The greater false vampire bat (''Lyroderma lyra'') is a species of bat in the family Megadermatidae, the false vampire bats. It is native to Asia. It is also known as the Indian false vampire bat or greater false-vampire
Description
This speci ...
, ''Megaderma lyra''.[ Retrieved 6 April 2010]
Crag martins may host parasites, including blood-sucking mites of the genus ''Dermanyssus'' such as ''D. chelidonis'', and the nasal mite ''Ptilonyssus ptyonoprognes''.[ Retrieved 30 March 2010] Invertebrate species first found in nests of crag martin species include the tick ''Argas (A.) africolumbae'' from a rock martin nest and the fly ''Ornithomya rupes'' and the flea ''Ceratophyllus nanshanensis'' from European crag martin nests.
Status
All five species have extensive ranges and large populations, and the increasing use of artificial nest sites has enabled range expansion. The rock martin often breeds in lowland and desert towns,[ Retrieved 11 April 2010] the Eurasian crag martin's range is expanding in Austria, Switzerland, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, and Bulgaria, and the dusky crag martin is spreading northeastwards into Guangxi
Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
, south into lowland Laos, and westwards to the hills and plains of Sindh
Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...
. There is also a recent unconfirmed report from Cambodia.[ Retrieved 7 April 2010] Their large ranges and presumed high numbers mean that none of the crag martins are considered to be threatened, and all are classed as Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
on the IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
.[ Retrieved 26 March 2010][ Retrieved 4 April 2010]
Notes
References
Cited texts
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{{Good article
Ptyonoprogne
Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach