Swifts (Apodidae)

Uniform Swiftlet (Aerodramus vanikorensis) - HBW 5, p. 432

French: Salangane de Vanikoro German: Einfarbsalangane Spanish: Salangana de Vanikoro
Other common names: Island/Lowland/Vanikoro Swiftlet; Grey/Philippine Swiftlet(!) (amelis); Palawan Swiftlet (palawanensis)

Taxonomy: Hirundo vanikorensis Quoy and Gaimard, 1830, Island of Vanikoro.
Genus often merged into Collocalia. Forms superspecies with A. salangana, A. pelewensis, A. bartschi and A. inquietus; all were formerly considered conspecific; A. mearnsi was previously included in this superspecies too. Both A. infuscatus and A. hirundinaceus have been treated as races of present species. Races palawanensis and amelis sometimes considered two (or one) distinct species; former has been treated as conspecific with A. maximus or A. whiteheadi, and latter with A. fuciphagus. Races aenigma and heinrichi sometimes considered to belong to A. salangana. Population on Yamdena in Tanimbar Is not yet subspecifically assigned and may belong to an undescribed race. Australian birds formerly treated alone as race yorki, with name granti applied to New Guinea birds; however, the only two Australian records refer to vagrants identical to the New Guinea form, and it is clear that only a single race is involved; this race often listed as granti, but name yorki has priority by 21 years. Proposed race tsubame of A. whiteheadi now considered a synonym of race palawanensis. Fourteen subspecies currently recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

amelis (Oberholser, 1906) - Luzon, Mindoro, Cebu, Bohol and Mindanao (E Philippines).
palawanensis (Stresemann, 1914) - Palawan (SW Philippines).
aenigma (Riley, 1918) - C Sulawesi.

See all 14 subspecies

amelis (Oberholser, 1906) - Luzon, Mindoro, Cebu, Bohol and Mindanao (E Philippines).
palawanensis (Stresemann, 1914) - Palawan (SW Philippines).
aenigma (Riley, 1918) - C Sulawesi.
heinrichi (Stresemann, 1932) - S Sulawesi.
moluccarum (Stresemann, 1914) - Seram, Ambon, Banda, Gorong, Tayandu and Kai Is (S Moluccas).
waigeuensis (Stresemann & Paludan, 1932) - N Moluccas (Morotai, Halmahera) and W Papuan Is (Misool, Batanta, Waigeo and probably Salawati).
steini (Stresemann & Paludan, 1932) - Biak and Numfor (in Geelvink Bay, NW New Guinea).
yorki (Mathews, 1916) - Aru Is, New Guinea and D’Entrecasteaux Is.
tagulae (Mayr, 1937) - Louisiade Archipelago, Trobriand Is and Woodlark I.
coultasi (Mayr, 1937) - Admiralty Is (Manus, Rambutyo, Los Negros) and St Matthias group.
pallens (Salomonsen, 1983) - New Hanover, New Ireland and nearby Djaul I, and New Britain.
lihirensis (Mayr, 1937) - Nuguria and Hibernian Is, Tabar Is, Lihir group and Feni Is (E of New Ireland).
lugubris (Salomonsen, 1983) - Solomon Is.
vanikorensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1830) - Santa Cruz Is (including Duff Is and Swallow Is) and Vanuatu.