''Chaetocercus'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...
s in the family
Trochilidae.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Chaetocercus'' was introduced in 1855 by the English zoologist
George Robert Gray with the
rufous-shafted woodstar
The rufous-shafted woodstar (''Chaetocercus jourdanii'') is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
...
as the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
. The name is a combination of the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
words ''khaitē'', meaning "hair" and ''kerkos'', meaning "tail".
The genus contains six species:
*
White-bellied woodstar
The white-bellied woodstar (''Chaetocercus mulsant'') is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ...
(''Chaetocercus mulsant'')
*
Little woodstar
The little woodstar (''Chaetocercus bombus''), called estrellita chica in South America, is a Near Threatened species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Colombia, Ecuador and Pe ...
(''Chaetocercus bombus'')
*
Gorgeted woodstar
The gorgeted woodstar (''Chaetocercus heliodor'') is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbo ...
(''Chaetocercus heliodor'')
*
Santa Marta woodstar
The Santa Marta woodstar (''Chaetocercus astreans'') is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is endemic to Colombia.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of ...
(''Chaetocercus astreans'')
*
Esmeraldas woodstar (''Chaetocercus berlepschi'')
*
Rufous-shafted woodstar
The rufous-shafted woodstar (''Chaetocercus jourdanii'') is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
...
(''Chaetocercus jourdanii'')
All these species, except for the rufous-shafted woodstar, were formerly placed in the genus ''Acestrura''.
In 1999 Karl-Ludwig Schuchmann remarked in the ''
Handbook of the Birds of the World
The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...
'' that for the species placed in ''Acestrura'': "...no evidence in external morphology justifies treatment in a genus separate from ''C. jourdani''".
References
Bird genera
Taxa named by George Robert Gray
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