Grey-rumped Swallow (Pseudhirundo griseopyga) [XC339385]
by Peter Boesman from Mutinondo Wilderness area, Northern Province, Zambia (call)
Grey-rumped Swallow (Pseudhirundo griseopyga) [XC339386]
by \u00c9tienne Leroy from River wetland east of Mbala, Northern province, Zambia (call)
Subspecies
Once included in genus Hirundo because of its coloration, but DNA data indicate close relationship to other members of the "core martin group". Proposed subspecies liberiae (from Liberia) and gertrudis (from north-eastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon) undiagnosable. "Hirundo andrewi", based on single specimen caught at L Naivasha, Kenya, in 1965, has been treated as a subspecies of present species but now generally thought to be an aberrant, darker individual (grey-brown below, darker chest side) of nominate subspecies, probably on migration from unknown breeding area (possibly Ethiopia).
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
melbina (Verreaux, J & Verreaux, E, 1851) - Gambia, eastern Sierra Leone, Liberia, south-western Ivory Coast, Ghana, and coast from Equatorial Guinea south to extreme north-western Angola (Cabinda).
griseopyga Sundevall, 1850 - Eastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon, northern Central African Republic, extreme southern and eastern Sudan, Ethiopia, eastern PRCongo, and from western and eastern DRCongo, Uganda and western Kenya south to Angola, extreme northern Namibia, northern Botswana, north-eastern South Africa (south to KwaZulu-Natal) and northern and eastern Swaziland.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet