In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the mosque swallow in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal.

[3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[4] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

The crown, upperparts, and tail are glossy dark blue, and the lores and sides of the head are whitish forming a collar.

It is attracted to termite emergence events and bushfires when it can gather in flocks of up to 30 birds,[10] It has a slow rather falcon-like flight with a lot of gliding and often forages high above the woodland canopy in association with other hirundines and swifts.