'' Phaethornis '' is a genus 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

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 ...

subfamily, Phaethornithinae. They occur from southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, through

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. ...

, to

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 ...

as far south as northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Description and ecology

Their plumage typically involves greens, browns, rufous or grey. Most species show some green or bronze

iridescence Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...

to the upperparts, but this is far less conspicuous than that of many other hummingbirds. The male and female plumages of hermits are very similar, with differences limited to details of bill-shape, tail-shape and/or strength of colours/patterns. No species of hermit show the strong

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

usually associated with hummingbirds. ''Phaethornis'' hermits typically have a long decurved bill, although three species, ''P. koepkeae'', ''P. philippii'' and ''P. bourcieri'' have virtually straight bills. They have a red or yellow base to the lower mandible, and their two central tail feathers are elongated and tipped with white, buff or ochraceous. The crown of the head is flat, and two pale facial stripes enclose a dusky mask. Most '' Phaethornis '' hermits are restricted to the edge and undergrowth of forest, woodland and second growth, but some species (e.g. ''P. pretrei'') also occur in more open habitats. Many species of hermits form

leks A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. A lek can also indicate an avail ...

and congregate on traditional display grounds, where females visit to choose a mate. However, male hermits are generally less aggressive than other male hummingbirds, though both sexes will defend a feeding territory. Most hermits are associated with

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 ...

s, but will utilize other nectar sources like flowers of ''

Centropogon ''Centropogon'' is a plant genus in the family Campanulaceae. In systems where the Lobeliaceae are recognized as distinct, ''Centropogon'' is placed there. Selected species * '' Centropogon aequatorialis'' * '' Centropogon albostellatus'' * ' ...

'', ''

Passiflora ''Passiflora'', known also as the passion flowers or passion vines, is a genus of about 550 species of flowering plants, the type genus of the family Passifloraceae. They are mostly tendril-bearing vines, with some being shrubs or trees. They ...

'', ''

Costus ''Costus'' is a group of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Costaceae, described by Linnaeus as a genus in 1753. It was formerly known as ''Hellenia'' after the Finnish botanist Carl Niclas von Hellens. It is widespread through tropica ...

'', etc. To a lesser degree, they will capture small

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

. The long, decurved bills typical of most members of this group of

s are an adaptation to certain flowers.

Taxonomy

The

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 ...

''Phaethornis'' was introduced in 1827 by William Swainson with the

long-tailed hermit The long-tailed hermit (''Phaethornis superciliosus'') is a large hummingbird that is a resident breeder in Venezuela, the Guianas, and north-eastern Brazil. This species was formerly referred to as the eastern long-tailed hermit. Taxonomy The lo ...

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 combines 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 ...

''phaethōn'' meaning "sun" and ''ornis'' meaning "bird". The genus now contains 27 species. The

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of some groups have changed significantly in recent years, especially following the split of several small hermits ( ''P. idaliae'', ''P. atrimentalis'' and ''P. striigularis'') previously considered subspecies of ''Phaethornis longuemareus'', as well as the split of ''P. longirostris'' from ''P. superciliosus''. Further confusion exists between ''P. superciliosus'' and ''P. malaris'': Most

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

previously 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 the former (''bolivianus, insolitus, margarettae, moorei'' and ''ochraceiventris'') are now placed with the latter. A fully satisfactory taxonomic treatment of the entire ''longirostris/malaris/superciliosus'' group is still lacking according to some

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US *Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US *William Louis Abbott – US * Joseph H. Acklen – US *Humayun Abdul ...

. Another such case is ''P. maranhaoensis'': Some considered it invalid, believing it was the male plumage of ''P. nattereri''. However, ''P. maranhaoensis'' only occurs in the northern part of the range of ''P. nattereri'', and the two have different voices. Molecular work also confirms the validity of ''P. maranhaoensis'', though details presently are lacking. Comparably, '' P. aethopyga'' has generally been considered invalid as believed to be a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

between '' P. ruber'' and '' P. rupurumii'', but this assumption has recently been shown to be incorrect, leading to its revalidation as a distinct species. For the same authors, the taxa proposed as hybrids by Hinkelmann, could be valid taxa, especially ''P. longuemareus imatacae''.

Description and ecology

Taxonomy

Species in taxonomic order

References

Further reading