Red Sea Cliff Swallow

The Rotmeerschwalbe ( Petrochelidon perdita ) is a cryptic species which has been known only by a single dead individual from the year 1984.

Features

The specimen found, the Zoological Museum in Tring is located in the Walter Rothschild, has a length of 14 centimeters. The forehead and the reins are blackish. The crown is blue-black. The back is shiny deep blue. The tail is just the tail outer edges are square. The chin has a white spot. Throat and upper breast are blue-black, the rest of the underside is off- white. The coverts are sand color. The under wing-coverts are white. From their closest relatives, the cliff swallow ( Petrochelidon spilodera ), it differs in the coloring and the drawing of the head and chest, as well as the gray- white rump.

Habitat and behavior

About habitat and behavior is not known. Maybe it grows on cliffs, mountainous areas or in the open grasslands in socialization with other swallow species. The specimen found in May had just completed the moult. This can be a breeding season suspect at an early stage of the year.

Status

From the Rotmeerschwalbe exists only the holotype, which was found in May 1984 on Sanganeb Lighthouse on the Red Sea north-east of Port Sudan in Sudan. Unidentified swallows that have been sighted in Ethiopia ( for example, 20 times at Langano and up to twelve times in the Awash National Park ) several times, could potentially represent this taxon, but also a hitherto undescribed another type. The birds from Ethiopia showed a whitish (not blue-black ) throat and upper breast, a dark (not bright ) chin and a sand-colored to reddish brown (not gray ) rump. On the other hand, showed two swallows with bright Bürzeln that have been observed on their flight to Jeddah, features that could apply to the Rotmeerschwalbe.