Longuemare's sunangel (''Heliangelus clarisse'') is a species 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 ...

in the "coquettes", tribe

Lesbiini Lesbiini is one of the two Tribe (biology), tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae in the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The other tribe is Heliantheini (brilliants). The informal name "coquettes" has been proposed for th ...

of 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 mol ...

. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The taxonomy of Longuemare's sunangel is not settled. The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

(IOC), the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

, and

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

(HBW) treat it as a species and assign two subspecies to it, the nominate ''H. c. clarisse'' and ''H. c. violiceps''. The South American Classification Committee (SACC) of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

treats them as subspecies of the

amethyst-throated sunangel The amethyst-throated sunangel (''Heliangelus amethysticollis'') is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook o ...

(''H. amethysticollis''). The IOC and HBW also recognize ''H. c. verdiscutus'' as a subspecies, while Clements doesn't.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022Remsen, 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. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022

Description

Longuemare's sunangel is long and weighs . It has a short (less than ), straight, blackish bill. The adult male of the nominate ''H. c. clarisse'' has a narrow glittering blue-green frontlet just above the bill, a dusky crown, and dark bronzy green upperparts. Its throat and upper breast

gorget A gorget ( ; ) was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the English medieval clothing, medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon (headgear), chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather Collar (c ...

is glittering rosy and has a white pectoral band below it. The rest of the underparts are dusky buff with round green spots. The inner tail feathers are dark bronzy green and the outer ones blackish and occasionally have pale tips. The female has dull brown throat feathers with rufous or bronze green inclusions. Its belly has less spotting than the male's. Juveniles are plumaged like the adult female.del Hoyo, J., I. Heynen, N. Collar, P. F. D. Boesman, G. M. Kirwan, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Amethyst-throated Sunangel (''Heliangelus amethysticollis''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.amtsun1.01 retrieved January 20, 2022 The male ''H. c. violiceps'' has a strongly blue frontlet and a purple gorget. The female's frontlet is dull; its dull brown throat patch is smaller than that of the nominate and a band of dark green separates it from the white pectoral band. The male ''H. c. verdiscutus'' has an emerald green frontlet, a deep bronzy purple crown, and a dark line along the upper edge of the gorget. The female has the same dark line and a smaller gorget than the nominate's with a dark green border.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate Longuemare's sunangel ''H. c. clarisse'' is found in Colombia's Eastern Andes and adjacent western Venezuela. ''H. c. violiceps'' is found further north, in

Serranía del Perijá The Serranía del Perijá, Cordillera de Perijá or Sierra de Perijá is a mountain range, an extension of the eastern Andean branch ( Cordillera Oriental), in northern South America, between Colombia and Venezuela, ending further north in the ...

that defines the Colombia-Venezuela border. ''H. c. verdiscutus'' is restricted to the Tamá Massif, an extension of Colombia's eastern Andes on the border with Venezuela. Longuemare's sunangel primarily inhabits the edges of humid

cloudforest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, ...

and

elfin forest A "natural National Park in the Philippines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site file:Mount Kemiri (8187817161).jpg, An elfin forest in Sumatra's Gunung Leuser National Park Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is an uncommon ecosystem feat ...

. It can also be found in more open landscapes including fields with scattered bushes and trees, open woodland, overgrown ravines, and ''

páramo Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

''. In elevation it ranges from .

Behavior

Movement

Longuemares' sunangel is sedentary.

Feeding

Longuemare's sunangel feeds on nectar and also includes insects in its diet. It defends feeding territories that are dense with nectar sources. It typically feeds at heights up to , often along streams. It captures insects by hawking from a perch.

Breeding

The breeding season of Longuemare's sunangel extends at least from May to August. Its nest of moss and fine plant material is usually hung below a leaf or other structure that provides shelter from the weather. The clutch of two eggs is incubated by the female. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

Longuemare's sunangel's call is "a repeated dry, upward-inflected 'tsik' or 'tsit'."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed Longuemare's sunangel as being of Least Concern. Its population size is not known but is believed to be stable. It is considered fairly common to common and no potential threats are known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1534003 Longuemare's sunangel Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Serranía del Perijá Longuemare's sunangel