Pygochelidon

Pygochelidon is a genus of birds in the swallow family Hirundinidae that occur in the Neotropics.

Pygochelidon
Blue-and-white swallow (Pygochelidon cyanoleuca)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Hirundinidae
Genus:	Pygochelidon Baird, SF, 1865
Type species
Hirundo cyanoleuca blue-and-white swallow Vieillot, 1817

Taxonomy

The genus Pygochelidon was introduced in 1865 by the American naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird with the blue-and-white swallow as the type species.^[1] The name combines the Ancient Greek pugē meaning "rump" with khelidōn meaning "swallow".^[2]

This genus was formerly treated as a junior synonym of the genus Notiochelidon.^[3] It was resurrected to contain a clade of two species based on a genetic study published in 2005.^[4][5]

Species

The genus contains two species:^[5]

• Blue-and-white swallow (Pygochelidon cyanoleuca)
• Black-collared swallow (Pygochelidon melanoleuca)