Other Scientific Names
Ptyonoprogne fuligula [Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994)]
Other Names (World)
Rock Martin, Pale Crag Martin (northern subspecies), Red-throated Rock Martin (pusilla, bansoensis, fusciventris), African Rock Martin (anderssoni, pretoriae, fuligula)
Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula) [XC569590]
by Lynette Rudman from 10000 Flamingo Lodge, Ethiopia (flight call)
Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne) [XC347023]
by Peter Boesman from Namibgrens guest farm, Namibia (call)
Subspecies
Rock Martin (Hirundo fuligula) and Pale Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) are retained as species contra AERC TAC (2003) and Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993) who include obsoleta as a subspecies of Hirundo fuligula.
Forms a superspecies with Eurasian Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris) and Dusky Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne concolor) and all three have been considered conspecific, but breeding ranges overlap. Taxonomy complex, requires further study. Subspecies appear to form three separate groups: "obsoleta group" of pale northern subspecies (also comprising presaharica, spatzi, buchanani, perpallida, pallida, arabica), often treated as constituting a separate species; small and dark "fusciventris group" (also including pusilla and bansoensis) of west, central and eastern Africa; and large-sized "nominate group" (also with anderssoni and pretoriae) of southern Africa. Variation in coloration and size, however, mainly clinal; moreover, all subspecies intergrade with one another, and ranges not clearly demarcated.
Proposed subspecies birwae (Sierra Leone, Guinea) synonymized with bansoensis; birds from northern Nigeria and Chad east to Ethiopia and south to DRCongo, Uganda and northern Tanzania described as subspecies rufigula, but that name invalid, as preoccupied, and therefore synonymized with fusciventris.
spatzi (Geyr von Schweppenburg, 1916) - Southern Algeria, south-western Libya and northern Chad.
buchanani (Hartert, 1921) - Niger.
obsoleta (Cabanis, 1850) - Egypt east to north, central and eastern Arabia and Iran. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Pale Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta).
perpallida (Vaurie, 1951) - Southern Iraq and north-eastern Saudi Arabia.
pallida Hume, 1872 - Eastern Iran, south-western and south-eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
arabica (Reichenow, 1905) - North-eastern Chad (Ennedi), northern Sudan, south-western Arabia, Eritrea, northern Somalia and Socotra.
pusilla (Zedlitz, 1908) - Southern Mali east to Ethiopia and Eritrea.
bansoensis (Bannerman, 1923) - Sierra Leone east to Nigeria and Cameroon.
fusciventris Vincent, 1933 - Southern Chad, Central African Republic, western and southern Sudan, south-western Ethiopia, and eastern Africa south to Zimbabwe and northern Mozambique.
anderssoni (Sharpe & Wyatt, 1887) - Northern and south-western Angola and northern and central Namibia.
fuligula Lichtenstein, 1842 - Southern Namibia, Botswana and western South Africa.
pretoriae Roberts, 1922 - South-western Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique south to eastern South Africa.
rufigula (Fischer, GA & Reichenow, 1884) - Northern Nigeria and Chad to Ethiopia south to Zimbabwe and northern Mozambique.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet