''Calypte'' is a genus of

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

s. It consists of two species found in western North America.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Calypte'' was introduced in 1856 by the English ornithologist

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

was subsequently designated as

Costa's hummingbird Costa's hummingbird ('' Calypte costae'') is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It breeds in the arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean climate zones of the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, mainly in Southern C ...

. Gould did not explain the derivation of the genus name but it is probably from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''kaluptrē'' meaning "woman’s veil" or "head-dress" (from ''kaluptō'' meaning "to cover"). The genus now contains two species.

Species

References

*"National Geographic". ''Field Guide to the Birds of North America''. . Hummingbirds Bird genera {{hummingbird-stub