Amazilia
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amazilia is a hummingbird genus in the subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in tropical Central and South America.
| Amazilia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Rufous-tailed hummingbird, Amazilia tzacatl | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Tribe: | Trochilini |
| Genus: | Amazilia Lesson, RP, 1843 |
| Type species | |
| Ornismya cinnamomea[1] = Ornismia rutila Lesson, 1842 | |
| Species | |
|
see text | |
Taxonomy
The genus Amazilia was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist René Lesson.[2] Lesson had used amazilia in 1827 as the specific epithet of the amazilia hummingbird which is now the only species placed in the genus Amazilis.[3][4] The name comes from the Inca heroine in Jean-François Marmontel's novel Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'Empire du Pérou.[5][6] The type species was subsequently designated as the cinnamon hummingbird.[7][8]
The genus contains four species:[4]
- Cinnamon hummingbird, Amazilia rutila
- Buff-bellied hummingbird, Amazilia yucatanensis
- Rufous-tailed hummingbird, Amazilia tzacatl
- Honduran emerald, Amazilia luciae
An additional species is sometimes included:
- Guanacaste hummingbird, Amazilia alfaroana (disputed)
This genus formerly included many more species. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the large genus was polyphyletic.[9] In the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, species were moved to Leucolia, Saucerottia, Amazilis, Uranomitra, Chrysuronia, Polyerata, Chionomesa, Elliotomyia and Chlorestes.[4][10]
