Swallows and Martins (Hirundinidae)

Mosque Swallow (Cecropis senegalensis) - HBW 9, p. 677

French: Hirondelle des mosquées German: Senegalschwalbe Spanish: Golondrina Senegalesa
Other common names: African Mosque Swallow

Taxonomy: Hirundo senegalensis Linnaeus, 1766, Senegal.
Genus often merged with Hirundo, but DNA studies support retention of separate taxa. Forms a species group with C. semirufa. Race saturatior intergrades with nominate in Sudan and with monteiri in SE Kenya (area between Nairobi and Mombasa). Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766) - extreme S Mauritania and Senegambia E to N Ghana, N Nigeria, N Cameroon, S Chad and SW Sudan.
saturatior (Bannerman, 1923) - S Ghana E to S Cameroon, S Sudan and Ethiopia and S to PR Congo, N DRCongo, Burundi and N & S Kenya.
monteiri (Hartlaub, 1862) - Angola and S DRCongo E to S Kenya, S to N Namibia, N Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and extreme NE South Africa.