Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Apodiformes > Apodidae > Tachymarptis > Tachymarptis melba

Tachymarptis melba (Alpine swift)

Synonyms: Apus melba; Cypselus alpinus; Hirundo melba (homotypic); Hirundo spec (pro parte)

Wikipedia Abstract

The Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) formerly Apus melba, is a species of swift. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek takhus, "fast", and marptis, "seizer". The specific melba has no known explanation. Alpine swifts breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalaya. Like common swifts, they are strongly migratory, and winter much further south in southern Africa.
View Wikipedia Record: Tachymarptis melba

Infraspecies

Tachymarptis melba africanus (Alpine Swift) (Attributes)
Tachymarptis melba archeri
Tachymarptis melba bakeri
Tachymarptis melba dorabtatai
Tachymarptis melba marjoriae
Tachymarptis melba maximus
Tachymarptis melba melba (Alpine Swift) (Attributes)
Tachymarptis melba nubifugus
Tachymarptis melba tuneti
Tachymarptis melba willsi

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
5
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
27
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 11.0099
EDGE Score: 2.48573
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  106 grams
Birth Weight [2]  6.1 grams
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates)
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  100 %
Forages - Aerial [3]  90 %
Forages - Mid-High [3]  10 %
Clutch Size [7]  2
Clutches / Year [4]  1
Fledging [4]  50 days
Incubation [6]  20 days
Maximum Longevity [5]  26 years
Migration [8]  Intercontinental
Snout to Vent Length [4]  8 inches (21 cm)
Speed [9]  28.185 MPH (12.6 m/s)
Wing Span [9]  22 inches (.57 m)
Female Maturity [5]  2 years
Male Maturity [5]  2 years

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

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Biodiversity Hotspots

Prey / Diet

Apis mellifera (honey bee)[6]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Accipiter rufiventris (Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk)[6]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Brachydistomum salebrosum[10]
Paruterina vesiculigera[10]

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Storchová, Lenka; Hořák, David (2018), Data from: Life-history characteristics of European birds, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n6k3n
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 5de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 6del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 7Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 8Riede, Klaus (2004) Global Register of Migratory Species - from Global to Regional Scales. Final Report of the R&D-Projekt 808 05 081. 330 pages + CD-ROM
♦ 9Alerstam T, Rosén M, Bäckman J, Ericson PGP, Hellgren O (2007) Flight Speeds among Bird Species: Allometric and Phylogenetic Effects. PLoS Biol 5(8): e197. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050197
♦ 10Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0