Discosura
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Discosura is a genus of South and Central American hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae. The thorntails are sometimes placed in the genus Popelairia (Reichenbach, 1854), leaving Discosura for the racket-tipped thorntail. On the contrary, some have argued for merging this genus into Lophornis, which they overall resemble, except for the highly modified tail-feathers of the males.
_male_in_flight.jpg)
| Discosura | |
|---|---|
| |
| Green thorntail, Discosura conversii | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Tribe: | Lesbiini |
| Genus: | Discosura Bonaparte, 1850 |
| Type species | |
| Trochilus longicaudus (racket-tipped thorntail) Gmelin, JF, 1788 | |
| Species | |
|
5, see text | |
Taxonomy
The genus Discosura was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[1] Bonaparte did not specify a type species but this was designated as the racket-tipped thorntail by George Robert Gray in 1855.[2][3] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek diskos meaning "plate" with oura meaning "tail".[4]
The genus contains five species.[5]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wire-crested thorntail
Male
|
Discosura popelairii (Du Bus de Gisignies, 1846) |
Colombia, Ecuador and Peru |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Black-bellied thorntail
Female |
Discosura langsdorffi (Temminck, 1821) Two subspecies
|
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Letitia's thorntail
|
Discosura letitiae (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1852) |
Probably Bolivia (only known from two old specimens of uncertain origin) |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Green thorntail
Male
|
Discosura conversii (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846) |
Costa Rica to Ecuador |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Racket-tipped thorntail
Male |
Discosura longicaudus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) |
Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and southern Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
_ESEC_de_Caetés,_PE.jpg)
