''Selasphorus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics ar ...

s from

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek (d ...

and North America.

Taxonomy

The

''Selasphorus'' was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist

William John Swainson William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...

to accommodate the

rufous hummingbird The rufous hummingbird (''Selasphorus rufus'') is a small hummingbird, about long with a long, straight and slender bill. These birds are known for their extraordinary flight skills, flying during their migratory transits. It is one of nine sp ...

which is now the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

. The name combines the

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

''selas'' meaning "light" or "flame" with ''-phoros'' meaning "-carrying". The genus contains the following nine

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

: The wine-throated hummingbird and the bumblebee hummingbird were formerly placed in the genus ''Atthis''.

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 published in 2014 and 2017 found that ''Atthis'' was embedded within ''Selasphorus''. The genera were therefore merged and these hummingbirds were moved to ''Selasphorus''.

References

External links

* Bird genera Taxa named by William John Swainson {{hummingbird-stub