Lesbiini is one of the two

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

that make up the subfamily

Lesbiinae Lesbiinae is one of the six subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The subfamily is divided into two tribes: Heliantheini ("brilliants") containing 14 genera and Lesbiini ("coquettes") containing 18 genera. Phylogeny A mo ...

in the hummingbird

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Trochilidae 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 ...

. The other tribe is Heliantheini (brilliants). The informal name "coquettes" has been proposed for this group as the largest genus, ''

Lophornis ''Lophornis'' is a genus of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. These are all tiny birds, ranking among the smallest hummingbirds. No species exceeds and most are under in total length, weighing 3 grams or less. The male coquettes are noted ...

'', has 11 species with "coquette" in their common name. The tribe contains 67 species divided into 18 genera.

Phylogeny

A molecular phylogenetic study of the hummingbirds published in 2007 found that the family was composed of nine major

clades A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

. When Edward Dickinson and James Van Remsen, Jr. updated the ''

Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World The ''Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World'' is a book by Richard Howard and Alick Moore which presents a list of the bird species of the world. It was the first single-volume world bird list to include subspecies names, ...

'' for the 4th edition in 2013 they based their classification on these results and placed two of the nine clades in a new subfamily

. Each clade formed a separate

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

which they named Lesbinii and Heliantheini. The subfamily Lesbiinae had been introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1854.

Cladograms

Molecular phylogenetic studies by Jimmy McGuire and collaborators published between 2007 and 2014 determined the relationships between the major groups of hummingbirds. In the

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

below the English names are those introduced in 1997. The Latin names are those proposed by Dickinson and Remsen in 2013. The 2014 study also determined the relationships between the genera within the Lesbiini.

Phylogeny

Cladograms

Taxonomic list

References

Sources