Trochilus

Streamertail

Streamertail

Genus of birds

"Trochilus" redirects here. For other uses, see Trochilus (disambiguation).

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...

The streamertails are hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus, that are endemic to Jamaica. It is the type genus of the family Trochilidae. Today most authorities consider the two taxa in this genus as separate species, but some (e.g. AOU) continue to treat them as conspecific, in which case scitulus is a subspecies of T. polytmus. A wide range of common names apply to this combined species, including green-and-black streamertail, Jamaican streamertail or simply streamertail. The name streamertail is a reference to the greatly elongated rectrices of the males.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Trochilus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The genus name is from the Ancient Greek τροχιλος/trokhilos, a small unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle. Later authors assumed the word referred to a wren.[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the red-billed streamertail.[3][4] In his Systema Naturae Linnaeus included 18 species of hummingbird all of which he placed in Trochilus. Today, 12 of these species are still recognised, but only the red-billed streamertail is retained in its original genus.[1][5] Two species are now placed in the genus.[5]

More information Common name, Scientific name and subspecies ...

References

  1. [1]
    Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 119.
  2. [2]
    Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 391. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. [3]
    Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 56.
  4. [4]
    Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 14.
  5. [5]
    Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  • Schuchmann, K. L. (1999). Genus Trochilus. Pp. 572 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, K. eds. (1999). Handbook of the Birds of the World.. Vol. 5. Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-25-3


Stub icon

This hummingbird-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Trochilus, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.