Lampornithini is one of the three
tribes
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
that make up the
subfamily
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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Trochilinae
Trochilinae is one of the six subfamily, subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae.
The subfamily is divided into three Tribe (biology), tribes: Lampornithini (mountain gems) containing 18 species, Mellisugini ...
in the hummingbird
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
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 ...
. The other two tribes in the subfamily are
Mellisugini
Mellisugini is one of the three Tribe (biology), tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Trochilini (emeral ...
(bees) and
Trochilini
Trochilini is one of the three Tribe (biology), tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Mellisugini (bees). ...
(emeralds).
The informal name "mountain gems" has been proposed for this group. The largest genus ''
Lampornis'' contains eight species with "mountaingem" in their common name.
The tribe contains 18 species divided into 7 genera.
Phylogeny
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 of the hummingbirds published in 2007 found that the family was composed of nine major
clades
In biology, a clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach to taxonomy ...
.
When
Edward Dickinson and
James Van 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 based their classification on these results and placed three of the nine clades in the
subfamily
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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Trochilinae
Trochilinae is one of the six subfamily, subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae.
The subfamily is divided into three Tribe (biology), tribes: Lampornithini (mountain gems) containing 18 species, Mellisugini ...
. The clades were placed in separate
tribes
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
which were named Lampornithini (mountain gems),
Mellisugini
Mellisugini is one of the three Tribe (biology), tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Trochilini (emeral ...
(bees), and
Trochilini
Trochilini is one of the three Tribe (biology), tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Mellisugini (bees). ...
(emeralds). The tribe Lampornithini with the current circumscription was introduced in 2009.
[ A subfamily based on the genus '' Lampornis'' was introduced by William Jardine in 1833. The name Lampornithinae was used by Charles Bonaparte in 1842.
]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 ...
studies by Jimmy McGuire and collaborators published between 2007 and 2014 determined the relationships between the major groups of hummingbirds.cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...
below the English names are those introduced in 1997.[
]
Taxonomic list
The tribe contains 7 genera.[
]
References
Sources
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q16570728
*
Bird tribes