''Riparia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of passerine birds in the swallow family Hirundinidae. These are small or medium-sized swallows, ranging from in length. They are brown above and mainly white below, and all have a dark breast band. They are closely associated with water. They nest in tunnels which are usually excavated by the birds themselves in a natural sand bank or earth mound. They lay white eggs, which are incubated by both parents, in a nest of straw, grass, and feathers in a chamber at the end of the burrow. Some species breed colonially. The cosmopolitan sand martin is almost completely migratory, breeding across temperate

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and wintering in the tropics. The other species are partial migrants or resident. ''Riparia'' martins, like other swallows, take

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s in flight over water, grassland, or other open country.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Riparia'' was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster in 1817 with the

sand martin The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as the bank swallow (in the Americas), collared sand martin, or common sand martin, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family. It has a wide range in summer, embracing practically the w ...

(''Riparia riparia'') as the type species. The genus name is from the Latin ''riparius'' which means "of the riverbank"; it is derived from the Latin ''ripa'' "riverbank". The genus contains five

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

: The genus formerly included the banded martin but this species is now placed in its own genus ''

Neophedina The banded martin or banded sand martin (''Neophedina cincta'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae that is endemic to Africa. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Neophedina''. Taxonomy The banded martin was d ...

''.

Fossil record

*''Riparia minor'' (late Miocene of Polgardi, Hungary)Kessler, E. (2013). Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary. ''Hantkeniana.'' Budapest, 8:37-149.

References

Hirundinidae Bird genera Taxa named by Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster {{Hirundinidae-stub