Rose throat elf
| Rose throat elf | ||||||||||
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Rose throat elf |
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| Atthis heloisa | ||||||||||
| ( Lesson, RP & Delattre , 1839) |
The rose-throated elf ( Atthis heloisa ) or sometimes also Heloisaelfe is a species of bird from the hummingbird family (Trochilidae). The species has a large range that covers about 290,000 square kilometers in the Central American country Mexico and the North American country USA . The IUCN assesses the population as Least Concern .
features
The rose throat elf reaches a body length of about 7 to 7.5 centimeters. The short black beak is 18 to 19 millimeters long in the male and 19 to 20 millimeters long in the female. The tail is striped reddish brown, with the outer feathers being white. The male is adorned with a magenta-colored ring collar that turns into a dark purple. The hummingbird has white stripes around the eye that are hidden between the green crown and the head. The neck and the lower part are green. The side looks washed out gray to cinnamon in color. The back is green. The female has a white throat with bronze-brown speckles. While the back shimmers grass green to golden green, the lower part is creamy white. On the side, the color changes into a fox red. The front side of the collar is decorated with a contrasting white.
Habitat
The bird moves preferentially in the edge areas of cloud forest and in the pine forests of the mountains at altitudes between 1500 and 3000 meters.
behavior
Little is known about the behavior. The slow flight is similar to that of a large bee. They hum like insects when they fly. This is probably used to camouflage potential enemies. The rose throat elf does not display aggressive behavior. It sucks its nectar from short flower crowns. Sometimes you can see them feeding on the ground.
Subspecies
So far, two subspecies are known.
- Atthis heloisa heloisa ( Lesson & Delattre , 1839)
- Atthis heloisa margarethae R. T. Moore , 1937
The subspecies Atthis heloisa morcomi Ridgway , 1898 is now a synonym for A. h. heloisa considered.
The subspecies margarethae is found in the southwest and west of the Mexican highlands. It is present in the southeast of Sinaloa and the southwest of Chihuahua to Jalisco . The subspecies heloisa is more likely to be found in the highlands of northeast, central and southern Mexico. You can discover them in central Tamaulipas to Guerrero and in Oaxaca .
Etymology and history of research
René Primevère Lesson and Adolphe Delattre described the rose throat elf under the name Ornismya Heloisa . Delattre named Xalapa and Quatepu as the site . Only later was the species assigned to the new genus Atthis by Ludwig Reichenbach . " Atthis " was a daughter of Kranao and the mistress of Sappho . The origin of the specific epithet »heloisa« is not entirely clear, as the authors did not provide an explicit dedication. It may refer to the work Julie or The New Heloise by the nature prophet and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau , which alluded to the love and suffering story of Heloisa and Peter Abelard . It is more likely that the name is dedicated to Héloïse Joséphine Boucard (1811-1893). Robert Thomas Moore dedicated "Margarethae" to his second wife Margaret Forbes née Cleaves, whom he married in 1922. The synonym morcomi was given in honor of George Frean Morcom (1845-1932).
literature
- Sheri L. Williamson, Roger Tory Peterson, A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America , Houghton Mifflin, 2002, pp. 213ff, ISBN 978-0618024957
- Steve NG Howell, Sophie W. Webb: A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America . Oxford University Press, New York 1995, ISBN 978-0-19-854012-0 .
- Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliott, Jordi Sargatal: Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 5: Barn Owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, 1999, ISBN 978-8487334252 .
- James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
- René Primevère Lesson , Adolphe Delattre: Oiseaux-Mouches nouveaux au très rares, decouverts by M. De Lattre dans son voyage en Amérique et décrits . In: Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne . tape 2 , 1839, p. 13-20 ( online [accessed April 23, 2014]).
- Robert Thomas Moore: Four new birds from northwestern Mexico . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 50 , 1937, pp. 95-102 ( online [accessed April 23, 2014]).
- Robert Ridgway: Description of a New Species of Humming-Bird From Arizona . In: The Auk . tape 15 , no. 4 , 1898, p. 325–326 ( online (PDF; 81.12 kB) [accessed on April 23, 2014]).
- Herbert Friedmann: In Memoriam: Robert Thomas Moore . In: The Auk . tape 81 , no. 3 , 1964, pp. 326–331 ( online (PDF; 308.14 kB) [accessed April 23, 2014]).
- Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach: Enumeration of the hummingbirds or trochilids in their true natural relationship, including the key to their systematics . In: Journal of Ornithology . tape 2 (separate issue), 1854, p. 1-24 ( online [accessed April 20, 2014]).
Web links
- Atthis heloisa inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- BirdLife International: Species Factsheet - Bumblebee Hummingbird ( Atthis heloisa ) . Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Bumblebee Hummingbird (Atthis heloisa) in the Internet Bird Collection
- Rose-throated elf ( Atthis heloisa ) at Avibase; Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- Atthis heloisa in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- xeno-canto: sound recordings - Bumblebee Hummingbird ( Atthis heloisa )
- Heloise's Hummingbird (Atthis heloisa) in the Encyclopedia of Life . Accessed March 29, 2018.