Chordeiles

Chordeiles
	Common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Strisores
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Caprimulgidae
Subfamily:	Chordeilinae
Genus:	Chordeiles; Swainson, 1832
Type species
	Caprimulgus virginianus Gmelin, JF, 1789=Camprimulgus minor Forster, JR, 1771;
Synonyms
	Podager

Chordeiles is a New World genus of nighthawks in the nightjar family Caprimulgidae.

Taxonomy

The genus Chordeiles was introduced in 1832 by the English zoologist William Swainson with Caprimulgus virginianus Gmelin, JF, 1789, as the type species.^[1] This is a junior synonym of Camprimulgus minor Forster, JR, 1771, the common nighthawk.^[2] The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek χορδη/khordē meaning "chord" and δειλη/deilē meaning "evening".^[3]

The genus contains the following six species:^[4]

Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
Chordeiles pusillus	Least nighthawk	northern South America
Chordeiles rupestris	Sand-coloured nighthawk	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela
Chordeiles minor	Common nighthawk	South America to northern North America.
Chordeiles acutipennis	Lesser nighthawk	United States through South America
Chordeiles gundlachii	Antillean nighthawk	the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and the Florida Keys in the United States.
Chordeiles nacunda	Nacunda nighthawk	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela

^ Swainson, William; Richardson, J. (1831). Fauna Boreali-Americana, or, The Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America. Vol. 2: The Birds. London: J. Murray (published 1832). p. 496. The title page bears the year 1831 but the volume was not published until 1832. See: Browning, M. Ralph; Monroe, Burt L. (1991). "Clarifications and corrections of the dates of issue of some publications containing descriptions of North American birds". Archives of Natural History. 18 (3): 381-405 [392]. doi:10.3366/anh.1991.18.3.381.
^ Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr., eds. (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-9568611-0-8.
^ Jobling, James A. "Chordeiles". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Frogmouths, Oilbird, potoos, nightjars". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 June 2025.

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