The streak-throated hermit (''Phaethornis rupurumii''), also known as the Rupurumi hermit, 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 family Trochilidae. It is found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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 ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, 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 ...

.Remsen, 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 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The streak-throated hermit was for a time considered a

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 dusky-throated hermit (''P. squalidus''). It has two subspecies, the nominate ''P. r. rupurumii'' and ''P. r. amazonicus''. They are geographically separated and the latter might be a full species.Hinkelmann, C., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Streak-throated Hermit (''Phaethornis rupurumii''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.stther1.01 retrieved November 25, 2021

Description

The streak-throated hermit is long and weighs . It is generally brownish with a greenish back and brownish gray underparts. It has a black "mask" and white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

and malar stripe and a very dark brown throat that appears streaky. The sexes are generally alike.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of streak-throated hermit is found from the extreme eastern part of Colombia's

Vichada Department Vichada Department (, ) is a department of the Republic of Colombia in South America. Vichada is located in the eastern plains of Colombia, in the Orinoquía Region within the Orinoco river basin bordering the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuel ...

through central and eastern Venezuela and western Guyana into northern Brazil's

Roraima Roraima ( ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas t ...

state. ''P. r. amazonicus'' is found in north-central Brazil along the Amazon River east of the

Negro River In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...

. The species inhabits the understory at the edges of

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

and the interior of '' várzea'' forest. It also inhabits drier and more open landscapes such as

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical wood ...

and

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

, scrublands, river islands, and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

. It is primarily a bird of the lowlands but reaches as high as in Venezuela and Guyana.

Behavior

Movement

The streak-throated hermit is believed to be sedentary.

Feeding

The streak-throated hermit feeds on nectar and also on small

arthropod 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 ...

s, but details of its diet and foraging technique have not been published.

Breeding

The streak-throated hermit's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

has not been documented.

Vocalization

The streak-throated hermit's song is "an incessant 'tsi tsi jéb dé tsi tsi jéb dé' or 'eesee-eesee-eesee, eesee-eesee-eesee-swur'", typically sung from a perch near the ground.

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 the streak-throated hermit as being of Least Concern, though its population size and trend are not known. It is very poorly known but appears to be locally common.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1273366 streak-throated hermit Hummingbird species of South America Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of the Venezuelan Amazon streak-throated hermit streak-throated hermit Taxonomy articles created by Polbot