Violet-crowned hummingbird

The violet-crowned hummingbird (Leucolia violiceps) is a medium-sized hummingbird. It is 10 cm long and weighs approximately 5 g.

Violet-crowned hummingbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Leucolia
Species:
L. violiceps
Binomial name
Leucolia violiceps
Gould, 1859
Synonyms

Cyanomyia violiceps
Agyrtria violiceps

The bird is best distinguished by its violet-colored cap, from where it gets its name. Adults are colored predominantly a dark olive green for their upperparts and tail. The underparts are predominantly white. The bill of the male is straight and very slender. It is red in coloration, and shows a black tip. The female is less colorful than the male.

The breeding habitat is in arid scrub of southeastern Arizona in the United States to southwestern Mexico, (the Madrean Sky Islands), and it is typically a mountain species. Outside its breeding range, it will occasionally stray from southernmost California to southwest Texas. The female builds a nest in a protected location in a shrub or tree. Females lay two white eggs. This hummingbird is partially migratory, retreating from northernmost areas during the winter.

These birds feed on nectar from flowers and flowering trees using a long extendable tongue or catch insects on the wing.

This species was formerly placed in the genus Amazilia. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Amazilia was polyphyletic.[2] In the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, the violet-crowned hummingbird was one of three species to be placed in the resurrected genus Leucolia.[3][4]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Amazilia violiceps". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. McGuire, J.; Witt, C.; Remsen, J.V.; Corl, A.; Rabosky, D.; Altshuler, D.; Dudley, R. (2014). "Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds". Current Biology. 24 (8): 910–916. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016.
  3. Stiles, F.G.; Remsen, J.V. Jr.; Mcguire, J.A. (2017). "The generic classification of the Trochilini (Aves: Trochilidae): Reconciling taxonomy with phylogeny". Zootaxa. 4353 (3): 401–424. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4353.3.
  4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.