The violet-capped woodnymph (''Thalurania glaucopis'') is a species 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 ...

in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The violet-capped woodnymph was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin , fields = , workplaces = University of GöttingenUniversity of Tübingen , alma_mater = University of Tübingen , doctoral_advisor = Philipp Friedrich GmelinFerdinand Christoph Oetinger , academic_advisors = , doctora ...

in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

''. He placed it with all the other hummingbirds in 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 ...

Trochilus The streamertails are hummingbirds in the genus ''Trochilus'', that are endemic to Jamaica. It is the type genus of the family Trochilidae. Today most authorities consider the two taxa in this genus as separate species, but some (e.g. AOU) cont ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Trochilus glaucopis''. Gmelin based his description on "L'oiseau-mouche à queue fourchue du Brésil" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher. Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history; his published works ...

from a preserved specimen that had been sent to Paris from Brazil. The violet-capped woodnymph is now placed with three other woodnymphs in the genus ''

Thalurania Woodnymphs are hummingbirds in the genus ''Thalurania''. Males are green and violet-blue, while females are green with white-tipped tails and at least partially whitish underparts. Both sexes have an almost straight, entirely black bill and litt ...

'' that was introduced in 1848 by the English ornithologist

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...

. The genus 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 ...

''thalos'' meaning "child" with ''ouranos'' meaning "heaven". The specific epithet ''glaucopis'' is from the Ancient Greek ''glaukos'' meaning "blue-grey" or "glaucous" with ''ōps'' meaning "face". The species is treated as

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 ...

: no

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 ...

are recognized. ThaluraniaGlaucopis200805DarioSanches

Description

The violet-capped hummingbird is long. Males weigh and females . Both sexes have a medium length straight bill that is blackish and sometimes has a dark brown tip to the

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...

. The adult male has a glittering violet-blue forehead and crown, dark golden-green upperparts, and a steel blue forked tail. Its underparts are brilliant green with greenish to bluish undertail

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 s ...

. The adult female is entirely green above and dirty white to pale buff below. Its tail is only slightly forked; its inner feathers are metallic green and the outer ones steel blue with white tips. Subadult males have a turquoise-blue forehead and crown, whitish bars on the thoat feathers, and grayish brown areas on its underparts.Weller, A.A., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Violet-capped Woodnymph (''Thalurania glaucopis''), 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.vicwoo2.01 retrieved August 27, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The violet-capped woodnymph is found in eastern and southeastern Brazil from

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, northeastern Argentina's

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes ...

, eastern Paraguay, and northern Uruguay. It inhabits the interior and edges of

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, scrublands, and suburban and urban parks and gardens. In elevation it ranges from sea level to .Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved July 24, 2022

Behavior

Movement

The violet-capped woodnymph is a short-distance migrant but details are not known. It is found in Paraguay only in the non-breeding season.

Feeding

The violet-capped woodnymph forages for nectar at all levels of its habitat and from a very wide variety of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees. In addition to nectar it captures small insects 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 and by gleaning from vegetation.

Breeding

The violet-capped woodnymph's breeding season spans from September to February. It makes a bowl nest of soft plant down and fibers with fern scales and lichen on the outside. It is typically placed on a horizontal branch or fork between above the ground. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for about 15 days and hatching occurs 20 to 25 days after hatch.

Vocalization

What is thought to be the violet-capped woodnymph's song is "a monotonous rapid series of evenly spaced metallic chips, 'chip..chip..chip...'". In flight it makes "short dry chips, often s adry trill or chatter".

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 violet-capped woodnymph as being of Least Concern. It has a large range but its population size and trend are not known. No immediate threats have been identified. It is " e of commonest trochilids in SE Brazil" and occurs in many protected areas there.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q941515 violet-capped woodnymph Birds of Brazil Birds of the Atlantic Forest Birds of the South Region Birds of the Selva Misionera Hummingbird species of South America violet-capped woodnymph violet-capped woodnymph Taxonomy articles created by Polbot