''Eupetomena'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

in the hummingbird family

Trochilidae 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 ...

. It contains two species which are both found in eastern South America.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Eupetomena'' was introduced in 1853 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 ...

to accommodate a single species, the swallow-tailed hummingbird which therefore becomes 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 ...

. The genus name combines 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 ...

''eu'' ( εὐ-) meaning "good" and the neuter participle ''petomena'' (πετόμενα) meaning "always on the wing" or "flying" (from ''petomai'', πέτομαι, "to fly"). Literally, it can mean "the one that flies well, good flyer" (εὐπετόμενα). The genus contains two species: The sombre hummingbird was formerly placed in the genus ''Aphantochroa'' but based primarily on a

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 published in 2014, ''Aphantochroa'' has been merged into ''Eupetomena''.

References

Eupetomena Bird genera {{hummingbird-stub