The Red Sea Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon perdita), also known as the Red Sea Swallow, is a species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Hirundinidae family.

Distribution and habitat

It is possibly endemic to Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

. It is known only from a single specimen, found in May 1984 at the Sanganeb lighthouse, north-east of Port Sudan

Port Sudan

Port Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...

, Sudan. This enigmatic swallow may still exist, though the lack of recent records is puzzling. Unidentified swallows have been sighted in Lake Langano

Lake Langano

Langano is a lake in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, exactly 200 kilometers by road south of the capital, Addis Ababa, on the border between the Misraq Shewa and Arsi Zones. The first European to record its existence, Oscar Neumann, records that it was also known as "Lake Kore"...

 (c.20 birds) and in Awash National Park

Awash National Park

Awash National Park is one of the National Parks of Ethiopia. Located at the southern tip of the Afar Region, this park is 225 kilometers east of Addis Ababa , with its southern boundary along the Awash River, and covers at least 756 square kilometers of acacia woodland and grassland...

 (3-8 birds) in the Rift Valley

Great Rift Valley

The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...

 in Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, and these are possibly this species. It is alternatively placed in the genus Hirundo.