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Message: <blockquote data-quote="l_raty" data-source="post: 3342466" data-attributes="member: 24811">Swifts have long been classified together with swallows; even quite late in the 19th C, many a classification had these as two subfamilies within the same family.Additionally:- The use of order names in -iformes is a quite recent convention (eg., the <a href="http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37764644" target="_blank">3rd ed. of the AOU check-list</a> (1910) had them in an order Macrochires (the "large hands", not formed from a generic name; together with "goatsuckers" and hummers), suborder Cypseli (formed from Cypselus Illiger 1811, from Greek κύψελος, a swallow)).- The generic name Apus Scopoli 1777 (from Greek ἄπους, footless, and also a swallow) has long been regarded preoccupied by Apos Scopoli 1777, and its generalised use is recent (eg., the <a href="http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5823937" target="_blank">4th ed. of the AOU check-list</a> (1931) had them in an order Micropodiformes, formed from Micropus Meyer & Wolf 1810 ("small foot") which, back then, was the generic name used for what we now call Apus).---(Edit: some of this is already written by Peter above, then...)</blockquote>