Polytminae is one of the six

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

of the hummingbird

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

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 arou ...

. The subfamily contains 12 genera with a total of 29 species. The informal name "mangoes" has been proposed for this group as the seven species in the largest genus, ''

Anthracothorax The mangos, ''Anthracothorax'', are a genus of hummingbirds in the subfamily Trochilinae native to the Neotropics. The genus ''Anthracothorax'' was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1831. The type species was subsequently d ...

'', include "mango" in their common name.

Taxonomy

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 of the hummingbirds published in 2007 found that the family consisted of nine

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, t ...

. When

Edward Dickinson Edward Dickinson (January 1, 1803 – June 16, 1874) was an American politician from Massachusetts. He is also known as the father of the poet Emily Dickinson; their family home in Amherst, the Dickinson Homestead, is a museum dedicated to her. ...

and

James Van Remsen, Jr. James Vanderbeek "Van" Remsen Jr. (born September 21, 1949) is an American ornithologist. His main research field is the Neotropical realm, Neotropical bird, avifauna. In 1999, he founded the South American Classification Committee.J. V. 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 divided the nine clades into six

and proposed using the Latin name Polytminae for the "mango" clade, a name that had been introduced by

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist and ornithologist. It was he who first requested Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate models for scientific education and museu ...

in 1849. The existence of this clade was not anticipated by pre-molecular studies but a common feature is the presence of serrations on the cutting edge of the bill. An extreme example is the

tooth-billed hummingbird The tooth-billed hummingbird (''Androdon aequatorialis'') is a species of bird from the family Trochilidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Androdon''. It is found in humid forests in western Colombia, north-western Ecuador (south to Pichinc ...

(''Androdon aequatorialis''). 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 d ...

below the English names are those introduced in 1997. The Latin names are those proposed by Dickinson and Remsen in 2013. The phylogenetic relationships between the genera in the subfamily Polytminae as determined in the 2014 study are shown below. The genus ''

Eulampis The caribs are a genus, ''Eulampis'', of hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae. The genus contains two species, both of which are endemic to the islands of the Caribbean. The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek word ''eulampēs'' meaning 'b ...

'' was found to be nested within ''

'' making ''Anthracothorax''

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

. No species from the genus ''

Augastes The visorbearers are hummingbirds in the bitypic genus ''Augastes'' in the family Trochilidae Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur f ...

'' was sampled in the molecular studies but based on a comparison of plumage features and bill shapes it is believed that ''Augastes'' is closely related to ''Schistes''.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic list

References

Sources