[steve_nova]

To the experts -

out of the (I think) thirty or so species of Aerodramus (Colocallia?), how many of them can actually use echolocation for cave navigation and which species exactly? I know that some of the less adapted members of this Swiftlet genus can't.

I would like to add this info to update and expand the limited details on a web page.

Thanks!

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Steve,

I'll check up in Lynx HBW, if BirdForum ever gets quiet enough to allow me a few moments away from it.

That's a very big IF!

Michael

[steve_nova]

Thanks Michael.

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Steve,

From HBW, in the order they are in, in HBW:

Tribe Collocaliini

Hydrochous gigas - no

Collocalia esculenta - no
C. linchi - no
C. troglodytes - uncertain

Aerodramus elaphrus - probably yes
A. francicus - yes
A. unicolor - yes
A. mearnsi - unknown
A. infuscatus - unknown
A. hirundinaceus - yes
A. spodopygius - yes
A. terraereginae - yes
A. brevirostris - yes
A. whiteheadi - unknown
A. nuditarsus - unknown
A. orientalis - unknown
A. salangana - yes
A. vanikorensis - yes
A. pelewensis - probably yes
A. bartschi - probably yes
A. inquietus - unknown
A. sawtelli - yes
A. leucophaeus - yes (race ocistus; nominate unknown)
A. maximus - yes
A. fuciphagus - yes
A. papuensis - unknown

Schoutedenapus myoptilus - unknown
S. schoutedeni - unknown

---------
This for wikipedia? Have you checked out Scrub Jay talk page?

Michael

[cuckooroller]

Michael,

Is pelewensis the same bird as palawanensis?

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Steve,

No - HBW lists palawanensis as a race of A. vanikorensis.

A. pelewensis is endemic on the Palau Islands, not Palawan.

Michael

[cuckooroller]

Originally Posted by Michael Frankis

Hi Steve,

No - HBW lists palawanensis as a race of A. vanikorensis.

A. pelewensis is endemic on the Palau Islands, not Palawan.

Michael

Michael,

You're right. The Kennedy still has it as a ssp. of vanikorensis though more than one list has it split by now (SM and Clement's) Also race amelis has been split by HM and SM.

[steve_nova]

Thanks for that Michael

yes, it's for wikipedia. I have been doing a few pages (not logged in so my name don't come up on the upload history) Molossidae (free-tailed bats) and suddenly thought about looking at the avian echolocators.......and they were'nt there!

[steve_nova]

Michael, I've just looked at the discussion page. I will edit the split between the species (info permitting some time over the weekend)

[cuckooroller]

Steve,

Here's something that just came through one of my list-servers that may be of interest.


>NEOORN, from the last volume of Journal of Avian Biology:
>
>The evolution of echolocation in swiftlets
>March 2004, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 135-143
>Jordan Price J.; P. Johnson K.; H. Clayton D.
>Abstract: The abilities of some cave-nesting swiftlets to
>echolocate has traditionally been used to separate the genus
>Aerodramus, which includes echolocating species, from the genus
>Collocalia, thought to lack echolocation. Here we report the
>discovery of echolocation in a member of the latter genus, the pygmy
>swiftlet Collocalia troglodytes. We also present a well-supported
>molecular phylogeny for the swiftlets and their relatives based on
>DNA sequence data from two mitochondrial genes, which we use to
>reconstruct the evolution of echolocation. Our data provide strong
>evidence that the swiftlets are a monophyletic group. This monophyly
>plus the presence of echolocation in C. troglodytes indicate that
>either (1) echolocation evolved much earlier in the swiftlets than
>previously thought and has since been lost in most Collocalia taxa,
>or (2) this ability evolved independently in Aerodramus and
>Collocalia. Based on our results, echolocation can no longer be
>considered a useful character for distinguishing these two genera.
>
>
>~DIEGO CALDERON FRANCO
>Estudiante Instituto de Biologia - Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)
>Miembro Sociedad Antioque ñÅe Ornitologia (SAO)

[steve_nova]

Thanks very much for that Steve.