Stelgidopteryx

Abstract: We examined variation in the calls and facial patterns of Cliff Swallow (Hi- rundo pyrrhonota) chicks to test the prediction that, in species in which dependent young intermingle, coloniality necessitates parent-offspring recognition and thus favors the evo- lution of highly variable "signature" traits. The calls of Cliff Swallow chicks were found to be highly distinctive: interindividual variation was significantly greater than intraindividual variation for five measured parameters. Playback experiments indicated that parents could locate their chicks by these signature calls alone. We found that chick faces were individually distinctive as well. Chick faces could be readily distinguished by human observers, although we did not test whether or not Cliff Swallow parents actually use this information. Studies of several swallow species implicate coloniality as the variable in this family that separates species with distinctive chick signatures and strong parental recognition (Cliff Swallows and Bank Swallows (Riparia riparia)) from species in which these traits are weak or absent (North- ern Rough-winged Swallows (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) and Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica)). Received 9 December 1982, accepted 11 April 1983.

Abstract: . We used stable-isotope (δD) measurements of primary feathers to demonstrate that Northern Rough-winged Swallows (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) that breed in western North America migrate to the monsoon region of northwest Mexico for their annual postbreeding molt. Both adults and juveniles replace all their primaries in late summer. As expected, in samples of adults and fledglings collected at a northern breeding locality in eastern Washington, primary δD values of adults were of southern origin, whereas those of fledglings, whose feathers were grown in the nest, were consistent with their northern origin. Similarly, some young birds collected as they were replacing primaries in northwest Mexico had a southern signature in newly replaced primaries but a northern signature in their yet unreplaced juvenile primaries, which indicates that they were molt migrants from the north. Feather OD values increased from P1 to P9 in breeding adults collected in upstate New York. In the eastern United States, bo...

Abstract: A new feather mite species, Trouessartia stelgidopteryx sp. n. (Astigmata: Trouessartiidae), is described from the Northern rough-winged swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis Newton (Passeriformes: Hirundinidae) in Pennsylvania, USA. The new species is close to the minutipes species group and differs from its representatives and all other known species of the genus Trouessartia in having a unique combination of features in males: the opisthosomal lobes are much longer than wide, they are separated by a large semi-ovate terminal cleft, and their lobar apices bear semi-ovate terminal lamellae with a smooth margin.