'' Phaethornis '' 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 in the

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

subfamily, Phaethornithinae. They occur from southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, through

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

as far south as northern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Description and ecology

Their plumage typically involves greens, browns, rufous or grey. Most species show some green or bronze

iridescence Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstru ...

to the upperparts, but this is far less conspicuous than that of many other hummingbirds. The male and female plumages of hermits are very similar, with differences limited to details of bill-shape, tail-shape and/or strength of colours/patterns. No species of hermit show the strong

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

usually associated with hummingbirds. ''Phaethornis'' hermits typically have a long decurved bill, although three species, ''P. koepkeae'', ''P. philippii'' and ''P. bourcieri'' have virtually straight bills. They have a red or yellow base to the lower mandible, and their two central tail feathers are elongated and tipped with white, buff or ochraceous. The crown of the head is flat, and two pale facial stripes enclose a dusky mask. Most '' Phaethornis '' hermits are restricted to the edge and undergrowth of forest, woodland and second growth, but some species (e.g. ''P. pretrei'') also occur in more open habitats. Many species of hermits form

leks Lek or LEK may refer to: * Lek mating, of animals * Albanian lek, currency * Lek (magazine), Norway * Lek (pharmaceutical company), now part of Sandoz * Lek (river), Netherlands * De Lek, Netherlands fiefdom * L.E.K. Consulting, firm * Leung ...

and congregate on traditional display grounds, where females visit to choose a mate. However, male hermits are generally less aggressive than other male hummingbirds, though both sexes will defend a feeding territory. Most hermits are associated with

heliconia ''Heliconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku (province), ...

s, but will utilize other nectar sources like flowers of ''

Centropogon ''Centropogon'' is a plant genus in the family (biology), family Campanulaceae. In systems where the Lobeliaceae are recognized as distinct, ''Centropogon'' is placed there. Selected species * ''Centropogon aequatorialis'' * ''Centropogon alb ...

'', ''

Passiflora ''Passiflora'', known also as the passion flowers or passion vines, is a genus of about 550 species of flowering plants, the type genus of the family Passifloraceae. ''Passiflora'' species are widely cultivated for their striking flowers, fla ...

'', ''

Costus ''Costus'' is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Costaceae, erected by Linnaeus in 1753. It is widespread through tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. ''Costus'' is often characterized and dist ...

'', etc. To a lesser degree, they will capture small

arthropods Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

. The long, decurved bills typical of most members of this group of

s are an adaptation to certain flowers.

Taxonomy

The

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 ...

''Phaethornis'' was introduced in 1827 by

William Swainson William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swains ...

with the long-tailed hermit as 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 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 ...

''phaethōn'' meaning "sun" and ''ornis'' meaning "bird". The genus now contains 27 species. The

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of some groups have changed significantly in recent years, especially following the split of several small hermits ( ''P. idaliae'', ''P. atrimentalis'' and ''P. striigularis'') previously considered subspecies of ''Phaethornis longuemareus'', as well as the split of ''P. longirostris'' from ''P. superciliosus''. Further confusion exists between ''P. superciliosus'' and ''P. malaris'': Most

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

previously considered

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the former (''bolivianus, insolitus, margarettae, moorei'' and ''ochraceiventris'') are now placed with the latter. A fully satisfactory taxonomic treatment of the entire ''longirostris/malaris/superciliosus'' group is still lacking according to some

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US * Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US * William Louis Abbott – US * Humayun Abdulali — India * Joseph ...

. Another such case is ''P. maranhaoensis'': Some considered it invalid, believing it was the male plumage of ''P. nattereri''. However, ''P. maranhaoensis'' only occurs in the northern part of the range of ''P. nattereri'', and the two have different voices. Molecular work also confirms the validity of ''P. maranhaoensis'', though details presently are lacking. Comparably, '' P. aethopyga'' has generally been considered invalid as believed to be a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

between '' P. ruber'' and '' P. rupurumii'', but this assumption has recently been shown to be incorrect, leading to its revalidation as a distinct species. For the same authors, the taxa proposed as hybrids by Hinkelmann, could be valid taxa, especially ''P. longuemareus imatacae''.

Description and ecology

Taxonomy

Species in taxonomic order

References

Further reading