The Inagua woodstar (''Nesophlox lyrura''), also called the lyre-tailed hummingbird, is a

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 Trochili ...

, the "bee hummingbirds". It is endemic to the two islands of the

Inagua Inagua is the southernmost district of the Bahamas, comprising the islands of Great Inagua and Little Inagua. The headquarters for the district council are in Matthew Town. History The original settlers were the Lucayan people, who arrived some ...

district of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

.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 2021R. Terry Chesser, Richard C. Banks, Kevin J. Burns, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Adolfo G. Navarro-Sigüenza, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Fifty-sixth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union ''Check-list of North American Birds''". ''The Auk'' 2015, vol. 132 pg. 755 retrieved July 27, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The Inagua woodstar was originally treated as a subspecies of the

Bahama woodstar The Bahama woodstar or Bahama hummingbird (''Nesophlox evelynae'') is a species of hummingbird endemic to the Lucayan archipelago, including the Bahamian and Turks and Caicos islands. It is named the "hummer" by locals due to a distinct humming ...

(''Nesophlox evelynae''), which for a time was placed in the genus '' Calliphlox''. Following a 2015 publication, the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the then

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

recognized the Inagua woodstar as a separate species and the major worldwide taxonomic systems followed suit.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021 A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014 found that the genus ''Calliphlox'' was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

. Following that study and a 2017 publication, taxonomists moved the Inagua and Bahama woodstars into the resurrected genus ''

Nesophlox ''Nesophlox'' is a genus in the family of Hummingbirds. It consists of two endemic hummingbirds of the Bahamas. Species The genus contains two species: These species were formerly placed in the genus '' Calliphlox''. Molecular phylogenetic s ...

''. The Inagua woodstar 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 Inagua woodstar is long and weighs . Both sexes have a short, slightly decurved, black bill and a small white spot behind the eye. The male's forehead and

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 ...

are glittering reddish purple. Its upperparts are iridescent green, the breast whitish, and the belly mixed rufous and green. The tail is very deeply forked. Its central feathers are green and the others have cinnamon-rufous inner webs. The outermost feathers are lyre-shaped. Females have dull green upperparts, pale gray chin and throat with small green spots, a whitish chest, and a rufous belly. Their tail is rounded; the central feathers are green and the rest cinnamon with a wide black band near the end.Kirwan, G. M. (2020). Inagua Woodstar (''Nesophlox lyrura''), 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.inawoo2.01 retrieved July 27, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The Inagua woodstar is found on Great and Little Inagua islands in the Bahama archipelago. It inhabits most of the landscapes of the islands with the probable exception of mangroves. These include dune scrub, freshwater riparian areas, and human-made parks and gardens.

Behavior

Movement

The Inagua woodstar is assumed to be sedentary but for movements in response to where flowers are blooming. However, there are a few records of vagrant Bahama woodstars in Florida and Cuba from before the split that were not identified at the subspecies level, so it is possible that some were of this species.

Feeding

The Inagua woodstar forages for nectar at a variety of native and introduced flowering plants. Both sexes defend small territories around good nectar sources. In addition to nectar, the species also feeds on small insects captured by

hawking Hawking may refer to: People * Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist * Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name) Film * ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Ha ...

from a perch.

Breeding

The Inagua woodstar's breeding season has not been defined but seems to include October. It makes a tiny cup nest of plant fiber and spiderweb lined with soft fibers and covered with small pieces of bark. It generally places it within of the ground. Nothing else is known about the species' 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 eve ...

nor

xeno-canto xeno-canto is a citizen science project and repository in which volunteers record, upload and annotate recordings of birdsong and bird calls. Since it began in 2005, it has collected over 575,000 sound recordings from more than 10,000 species w ...

have recordings of the Inagua woodstar's vocalizations. Its song is described as quiet and simple, "sounding like wet, squeaking shoes". It also makes "chip" calls.

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 ...

has assessed the Inagua woodstar as being of Least Concern. Though it has a small range and its population size is not known, the latter is believed to be stable. No specific threats have been identified, but because the islands are so low-lying, the potential is there for major habitat destruction and direct mortality by a hurricane.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21190962

Inagua Woodstar The Inagua woodstar (''Nesophlox lyrura''), also called the lyre-tailed hummingbird, is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is endemic to the two islands of the Inagua district of ...

Endemic birds of the Bahamas Inagua Birds described in 1869