The little hermit (''Phaethornis longuemareus'') is a

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 ...

that is a resident breeder in north-eastern

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, northern

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. This

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of ...

species occurs in various semi-open wooded habitats, e.g.

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

and scrub. In Trinidad it also occurs in

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

. It is fairly common in most of its range, and therefore listed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

. Previously, several other small

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

s were considered

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of this

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 ...

. This includes the

stripe-throated hermit The stripe-throated hermit (''Phaethornis striigularis'') is a species of hummingbird from Central America and north-western South America. It is generally fairly common and considered Least Concern by BirdLife International. Description and sys ...

(''P. striigularis'') of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and north-western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, the

minute hermit The minute hermit (''Phaethornis idaliae'') is a tiny species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Taxonomy and systematics The minute hermit was for a time considered conspecific with the little hermit (''P. lon ...

(''P. idaliae'') of south-eastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, the

Tapajós hermit The Tapajós hermit (''Phaethornis aethopygus'') is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Taxonomy and systematics The Tapajós hermit was first described in 1950 as a subspecies of the little hermit ('' ...

(''P. aethopyga'') of south-eastern

Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

, and the

black-throated hermit The black-throated hermit (''Phaethornis atrimentalis'') is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The black-throated hermit was for a time considered a subspec ...

(''P. atrimentalis'') of western Amazonia. As presently defined, the little hermit 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 ...

. It is among the smallest

s and birds overall with a total length of ca. 9 cm. (3½ in) and a weight of 2½-3½ g. (0,08-0,12 oz). It is olive-green above with orange-

ochraceous Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

uppertail

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 ...

and underparts (the belly often is greyer). As most other

s, it has a long decurved bill, elongated central

rectrices Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

with whitish tips and a blackish mask bordered by a whitish-

buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional wr ...

malar and

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

. The upper mandible is black, the lower is yellow with a black tip. The male has a slightly darker throat than the female. The males form communal

lek Lek or LEK may refer to: * Lek mating, mating in a lek, a type of animal territory in which males of a species gather * Albanian lek, the currency of Albania * Lek (magazine), a Norwegian softcore pornographic magazine * Lek (pharmaceutical comp ...

s where they sing and flash their tails to attract the females. The song varies over its range, but typically is high, squeaky, complex and repeated again and again. The little hermit lays two

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

in a conical

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

suspended under a large leaf. Incubation and fledging period not reported, but probably as relatives where incubations is 14–16 days, and fledging another 20–23 days. The food of this species is

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

, taken from a wide variety of flowers (e.g. ''

Heliconia ''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the we ...

''), and some small

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

and

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s.https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Phaethornis_longuemareus%20-%20Little%20Hermit.pdf It feeds mainly by

trap-lining In ethology and behavioral ecology, trap-lining or traplining is a feeding strategy in which an individual visits food sources on a regular, repeatable sequence, much as trappers check their lines of traps. Traplining is usually seen in species ...

References

* ''Birds of Venezuela'' by Hilty, . * * Hinkelmann, C. (1999). Little Hermit (Phaethornis longuemareus). pp. 545–546 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds (1999). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World''. Vol. 5. Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. . {{Taxonbar, from=Q1271505

little hermit The little hermit (''Phaethornis longuemareus'') is a hummingbird that is a resident breeder in north-eastern Venezuela, northern Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Trinidad. This lowland species occurs in various semi-open wooded habitats, e.g. ...

Hummingbird species of South America Birds of Venezuela Birds of the Guianas Birds of Trinidad and Tobago

Taxa named by René Lesson