Throat elf

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Throat elf
Throat elf, female

Throat elf, female

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Sailor birds (Apodiformes)
Family : Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)
Genre : Dwarfs ( Chaetocercus )
Type : Throat elf
Scientific name
Chaetocercus heliodor
( Bourcier , 1840)

The throat elf ( Chaetocercus heliodor ), sometimes also called Heliodor elf , is a species of bird in the hummingbird family (Trochilidae). The species has a large range in Venezuela , Colombia and Ecuador . The IUCN assesses the population as Least Concern .

features

The throat elf reaches a body length of about 5.8 to 6.4 cm, with the straight beak 1.3 cm long. The top of the male sparkles dark green. The purple hue of the throat extends to the protruding tufts on the side of the neck. The purple is bordered by a wide white chest band, which narrows over the neck to a white line that extends behind the eyes. The chest is grayish, which turns into green on the sides and on the stomach. They have a distinct white spot under the wing, which is particularly noticeable in flight. The relatively short forked tail is black. The female is dark green on top. The underside is yellow-brown to cinnamon-colored, which merges into reddish brown in the lower chest area and stomach. You have a dark ear mark. Slightly indicated, a similar chest band can be seen as in the male, but that is colored yellow-brown. The tail is not forked and colored cinnamon red. They have a thin black subterminal band.

behavior

King-size elves suck nectar from large blossoming trees like bees. Occasionally they sit on high exposed branches, to which they return after their foraging rounds or from which they set out on chases after potential rivals. They get their nectar from plants that promise little reward or they invade the territory of larger hummingbird species and steal from the nectar-rich flowers that are guarded by them. They are regularly scared away by larger hummingbirds. Their behavior is similar to that of the bumble bee ( Chaetocercus bombus Gould , 1871), but they are much more often in the forest.

Habitat

The hummingbird prefers to move in the treetops, which are located on the edge of mountain foothills or in subtropical forests. In Ecuador they occur mainly at altitudes between 1100 and 1800 meters, rarely up to 2200 meters. From Colombia there are reports of up to 2800 meters, in Venezuela even up to 3000 meters.

Subspecies

Distribution area (green) of the throat elf

There are two known subspecies:

  • Chaetocercus heliodor heliodor ( Bourcier , 1840) - The nominate form occurs in western Ecuador to northwestern Venezuela.
  • Chaetocercus heliodor cleavesi Moore, RT , 1934 - The subspecies is widespread in northeast Ecuador. The upper side of the males is slightly darker than in the nominate form. The length and shape of the control springs are slightly different. The underside of the females looks a little darker.

The subspecies Chaetocercus heliodor meridae ( Zimmer & Phelps , 1950) is now considered a synonym for the nominate form. For a long time the Santa Marta elf ( Chaetocercus astreans ( Bangs , 1899)) was another subspecies. It wasn't until 1986 that it was given the status of its own species by Gary Russell Graves .

Etymology and history of research

Jules Bourcier described the magnificent throat elf under the name Ornismya heliodor . It was dedicated to Bourcier's son Claude Joseph Héliodore Bourcier (1826–). The type specimen came from Santa Fé de Bogotá . The species was later placed in the genus Chaetocercus introduced by George Robert Gray in 1855 . This name is made up of the Greek words "chaitē χαιτη " for "long, flying hair" and "kerkos κερκος " for "tail". “Cleavesi” is dedicated to Moore's daughter Marilynn Cleaves Moore (1925–). "Meridae" refers to the Venezuelan state of Mérida . For a long time the species was listed in the genus Acestrura .

literature

  • Steven Leon Hilty, John A. Gwynne, Guy Tudor : Birds of Venezuela . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2002, ISBN 0-691-09250-8 ( books.google.de ).
  • Steven Leon Hilty, William Leroy Brown: A guide to the birds of Colombia . Princeton University Press, Princeton 1986, ISBN 0-691-08372-X ( books.google.de ).
  • Robert Sterling Ridgely, Paul J. Greenfield: Birds of Ecuador Field Guide: Status, Distribution, and Taxonomy . tape 1 . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2001, ISBN 0-8014-8720-X (a).
  • Robert Sterling Ridgely, Paul J. Greenfield: Birds of Ecuador Field Guide: Field Guide . tape 2 . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2001, ISBN 0-8014-8721-8 (b).
  • James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
  • Jules Bourcier: Oiseaux-Mouches nouveau . In: Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne . tape 3 , 1840, p. 275 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Jules Bourcier: Description et figures des nouvelles espèces nouvelles d'oiseaux-mouches . In: Annales des sciences physiques et naturelles, d'agriculture et d'industrie . tape 5 , 1842, pp. 307–309 ( reader.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  • Walter Alois Weber: Chaetocercus cleavesi sp.nav. Marilynn Wood star . In: The Condor . tape 36 , no. 1 , 1934, p. Table for the first description ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 326 kB ; accessed on January 5, 2015]).
  • Robert Thomas Moore: A New Species of Hummingbird, Genus Chaetocercus, From Eastern Ecuador. In: The Condor . tape 36 , no. 1 , 1934, p. 3–6 ( sora.unm.edu [PDF; 290 kB ; accessed on January 5, 2015]).
  • Gary Russell Graves: Systematics Of The Gorgeted Woodstars (Aves, Trochilidae, Acestrura) . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 99 , no. 2 , 1986, p. 218-224 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • John Todd Zimmer , William Henry Phelps: Three new Venezuelan birds . In: American Museum novitates . No. 477 , 1950, pp. 1–7 ( digitallibrary.amnh.org [PDF; 629 kB ; accessed on January 5, 2015]).
  • George Robert Gray: Catalog of the genera and subgenera of birds contained in the British Museum . Printed by order of the Trustees, London 1855 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Hans von Berlepsch: Critical overview of the so-called Bogota collections (SO Colombia) occurring Colibri species and description . In: Journal of Ornithology . tape 35 , no. 3 , 1887, p. 313-336 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

Web links

Commons : throat elf  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Steven Leon Hilty u. a. (2002), p. 435.
  2. ↑ Robert Sterling Ridgely et al. a. (2001b), p. 295.
  3. ↑ Robert Sterling Ridgely et al. a. (2001a), p. 389.
  4. ↑ Steven Leon Hilty et al. a. (1986), p. 300.
  5. ^ IOC World Bird List Hummingbirds
  6. ↑ a b Jules Bourcier, p. 275.
  7. ^ Robert Thomas Moore, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Robert Thomas Moore, p. 3 f.
  9. ↑ a b John Todd Zimmer, u. a., p. 1.
  10. ^ A b Gary Russell Graves, pp. 218-224.
  11. ↑ Jules Bourcier (1842), p. 309.
  12. ↑ George Robert Gray, p. 22.
  13. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 98.
  14. ↑ Walter Alois Weber, The board for the first description says Marilynn Wood-Star.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Santa Fé de Bogotá does not necessarily have to be the collection point, as many bellows made their way to Europe from here at this time. See z. B. Hans von Berlepsch (1887)