Kingdom Animalia Scientific name Apus Phylum Chordata Order Apodiformes | Family Apodidae Higher classification Swift Rank Genus | |
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Lower classifications Common swift, Pallid swift, Little swift, Pacific swift, White‑rumped swift | ||
The bird genus Apus comprise some of the Old World members of the family Apodidae, commonly known as swifts.
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They are among the fastest birds in the world. They resemble swallows, to which they are not related, but have shorter tails and sickle-shaped wings. Swifts spend most of their life aloft, have very short legs and use them mostly to cling to surfaces.
Etymology
The name Apus is Latin for a swift, thought by the ancients to be a type of swallow with no feet (from Ancient Greek α, a, "without", and πούς, pous, "foot").
Before the 1950s, there was some controversy over which group of organism should have the genus name Apus. In 1801 Bosc gave the small crustacean organisms known today as Triops the genus name Apus, and later authors continued to use this term. Keilhack suggested (in 1909) that this was incorrect since there was already an avian genus named Apus by Scopoli in 1777 . It was not until 1958 that the controversy finally ended when the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) ruled against the use of the genus name Apus and instead recognized the term Triops.
Species
Known fossil species are:
The Miocene "Apus" ignotus is now placed in Procypseloides.