The glow-throated hummingbird (''Selasphorus ardens'') is an

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

in tribe

Mellisugini Mellisugini is one of the three tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Trochilini (emeralds). The informal name "bees" has ...

of subfamily

Trochilinae Trochilinae is one of the six subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The subfamily is divided into three tribes: Lampornithini (mountain gems) containing 18 species, Mellisugini (bees) containing 37 species and Trochilini (e ...

, the "bee hummingbirds". It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to a small area of

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved 27 May 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The glow-throated hummingbird is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

Description

The glow-throated hummingbird is about long. Both sexes have a short, straight, black bill. The adult male has bronzy green upperparts and the tail feathers are black with rufous edges. Its

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the thro ...

is pinkish red with a white foreneck below it. The center of the breast and belly are also white and the rest of the underparts buffy to cinnamon with green spangles and buffy white undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

. Adult females are also bronzy green above. Their central tail feathers are green; the rest have rufous bases, a black band near the end, and deep buffy tips. The throat is pale buff with grayish speckles and the rest of the underparts are like the male's. Immature birds resemble adult females but have rusty fringes on their head and nape feathers and more green on the tail.Stiles, F.G. and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Glow-throated Hummingbird (''Selasphorus ardens''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.glthum1.01 retrieved July 28, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The glow-throated hummingbird is found only in west-central Panama's Chiriquí and Veruagas provinces. It was historically found more widely in Serranía de Tabasará but since the early 20th century is known only from Cerro Colorado and Cerro Flores in Chiriquí and Cerro Tute and the Santa Fé district in Veraguas. There are unsatisfactory sight records from the

Azuero Peninsula Azuero Peninsula ( es, Península de Azuero) is a large peninsula in southern Panama. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean in the south; the Pacific and Gulf of Montijo to the west, and by the Gulf of Panama in the east. The peninsula is effectiv ...

, where its presence is considered hypothetical. It inhabits the edges and clearings of Talamancan montane forest at elevations between .

Behavior

Movement

The movements of the glow-throated hummingbird, if any, are unknown.

Feeding

Nothing is known about the foraging behavior or diet of the glow-throated hummingbird. Both are assumed to be similar to that of its close relative, the

scintillant hummingbird The scintillant hummingbird (''Selasphorus scintilla'') is a hummingbird endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. This species is replaced at higher elevations by its relative, the volcano hummingbird, ''S. flammula''. Habitat It inhabits brushy fo ...

(''S. scintilla''). That species, like most hummingbirds, feeds on nectar from flowers and on small insects.

Breeding

Nothing is known about the glow-throated hummingbird's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples includ ...

Vocalization

As of July 2022 neither the

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

Macaulay Library The Macaulay Library is the world's largest archive of animal sounds. It includes more than 33 million photographs, 1.2 million audio recordings, and over two hundred thousand videos covering 96 percent of the world's bird species. There are an ever ...

nor

xeno-canto xeno-canto is a citizen science project and Information repository, repository in which volunteers record, upload and annotate recordings of Bird vocalization, birdsong and bird calls. Since it began in 2005, it has collected over 575,000 sound r ...

have any recordings of the glow-throated hummingbird's vocalizations.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

originally assessed the glow-throated hummingbird in 1988 as Threatened, then in 1994 reassessed it as Vulnerable and in 2013 as Endangered. It has a very restricted range that has shrunk since the 19th century. Its population is estimated at between 2000 and 12,000 mature individuals and is believed to be decreasing. Though it is found in Santa Fé National Park, outside the park and even within it its forest habitat is fragmented and under continued clearing for agriculture and grazing. It also lives near the top of the rather low mountains and so is expected to undergo further range contraction as the climate continues to warm.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1274005

glow-throated hummingbird The glow-throated hummingbird (''Selasphorus ardens'') is an Endangered species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is endemic to a small area of Panama.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ...

Endemic birds of Panama Birds of the Talamancan montane forests Hummingbird species of Central America

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot