Apus apus (common swift) genome, bApuApu2, primary haplotype
The common swift is a member of the swift family (Apodidae). Swifts, which are the closest relatives to hummingbirds, are highly aerial, insectivorous birds that appear boomerang-shaped in flight. During the 10-month non-breeding season, common swifts fly constantly and presumably even sleep while flying. Blood and tissue samples were collected by Maude Baldwin and other researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology from an injured adult individual that had been tended to by a wildlife rehabilitator. Genome sequencing and assembly was conducted by Sylke Wrinkler, Martin Pippel, and Thomas Brown in Gene Myer's grou; curation by Kerstin Howe's group; coordination by Olivier Fedrigo and Erich Jarvis groups; and overall project coordination and funding by Michael Hiller, for a VGP reference genome.