Selasphorus | |
---|---|
Female broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) at nest | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Clade: | Strisores |
Order: | Apodiformes |
Family: | Trochilidae |
Subfamily: | Trochilinae |
Tribe: | Mellisugini |
Genus: |
Selasphorus Swainson, 1832 |
Type species | |
Selasphorus rufus
Gmelin, 1788
| |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms [1] | |
|
Selasphorus is a genus of hummingbirds from Middle and North America.
The genus Selasphorus was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William John Swainson to accommodate the rufous hummingbird which is now the type species. [2] [3] The name combines the Ancient Greek selas meaning "light" or "flame" with -phoros meaning "-carrying". [4]
The genus contains the following nine species: [5]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glow-throated hummingbird |
Selasphorus ardens Salvin, 1870 |
western Panama |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
EN
|
Calliope hummingbird |
Selasphorus calliope (Gould, 1847) |
California to British Columbia, and migrates to the Southwestern United States, Mexico |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Wine-throated hummingbird |
Selasphorus ellioti (Ridgway, 1878) Two subspecies
|
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Volcano hummingbird |
Selasphorus flammula (Salvin, 1865) Three subspecies
|
Costa Rica and western Panama. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Bumblebee hummingbird |
Selasphorus heloisa (Lesson & Delattre, 1839) Two subspecies
|
Mexico |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Broad-tailed hummingbird |
Selasphorus platycercus (Swainson, 1827) |
western United States and Western Canada to Mexico and Guatemala. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Rufous hummingbird |
Selasphorus rufus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) |
western United States and Mexican state of Guerrero |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NT
|
Allen's hummingbird |
Selasphorus sasin (Lesson, RP, 1829) Two subspecies
|
coastal California from Santa Barbara north, southern coastal Oregon, and southern central Mexico. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Scintillant hummingbird |
Selasphorus scintilla (Gould, 1851) |
Costa Rica and Panama |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
The wine-throated hummingbird and the bumblebee hummingbird were formerly placed in the genus Atthis.
Molecular phylogenetic 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.
[5]
[6]
[7]