Chaetocercus
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Chaetocercus is a genus of hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae.
Taxonomy
The genus Chaetocercus was introduced in 1855 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray with the rufous-shafted woodstar as the type species. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek words khaitē, meaning "hair" and kerkos, meaning "tail".
The genus contains six species:
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White-bellied woodstar Male Female | Chaetocercus mulsant (Bourcier, 1843) | Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Little woodstar Male Female | Chaetocercus bombus Gould, 1871 | Colombia, Ecuador and Peru | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
| Gorgeted woodstar Male Female | Chaetocercus heliodor (Bourcier, 1840) Two subspecies C. h. heliodorC. h. cleavesi | Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Santa Marta woodstar Male Female | Chaetocercus astreans (Bangs, 1899) | Colombia | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Esmeraldas woodstar | Chaetocercus berlepschi (Simon, 1889) | Ecuador | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
| Rufous-shafted woodstar | Chaetocercus jourdanii (Bourcier, 1839) Three subspecies C. j. andinus Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1949C. j. rosae (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846)C. j. jourdanii (Bourcier, 1839) | Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
All these species, except for the rufous-shafted woodstar, were formerly placed in the genus Acestrura. In 1999 Karl-Ludwig Schuchmann remarked in the Handbook of the Birds of the World that for the species placed in Acestrura: "...no evidence in external morphology justifies treatment in a genus separate from C. jourdanii".