Selasphorus
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Selasphorus is a genus of hummingbirds from Middle and North America.
Taxonomy
The genus Selasphorus was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William Swainson to accommodate the rufous hummingbird which is now the type species. The name combines the Ancient Greek selas meaning "light" or "flame" with -phoros meaning "-carrying".
The genus contains the following nine species:
| 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 Male Female | 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 S. e. elliotiS. e. selasphoroides | El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Volcano hummingbird Male Female | Selasphorus flammula (Salvin, 1865) Three subspecies S. f. flammulaS. f. torridusS. f. simoni | Costa Rica and western Panama. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Bumblebee hummingbird Male Female | Selasphorus heloisa (Lesson & Delattre, 1839) Two subspecies S. h. heloisaS. h. margarethae | Mexico | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Broad-tailed hummingbird Male Female | Selasphorus platycercus (Swainson, 1827) | western United States and Western Canada to Mexico and Guatemala. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Rufous hummingbird Male Female | Selasphorus rufus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) | western United States and Mexican state of Guerrero | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
| Allen's hummingbird Male Female | Selasphorus sasin (Lesson, RP, 1829) Two subspecies S. s. sasin (Lesson, R, 1829)S. s. sedentarius Grinnell, 1929 | coastal California from Santa Barbara north, southern coastal Oregon, and southern central Mexico. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Scintillant hummingbird Male Female | 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.
External links
- Media related to Selasphorus at Wikimedia Commons