Sunangel
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The sunangels are a genus of hummingbirds, Heliangelus, found in montane South America.
| Sunangel | |
|---|---|
| |
| Heliangelus mavors | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Tribe: | Lesbiini |
| Genus: | Heliangelus Gould, 1848 |
| Type species | |
| Ornismya clarisse[1] Longuemare, 1841 | |
Taxonomy
The genus Heliangelus was introduced in 1848 by the English ornithologist John Gould.[2] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ἡλιος/hēlios meaning "sun" with αγγελος/angelos meaning "angel".[3] Gould did not specify a type species but in 1855 George Gray designated the type as Trochilus clarissae Longuemare which is Ornismya clarisse Longuemare, 1841, Longuemare's sunangel.[4][5]
The genus contains the following nine species:[6]
- Orange-throated sunangel, Heliangelus mavors – Colombia and Venezuela
- Amethyst-throated sunangel, Heliangelus amethysticollis – south Ecuador to northwest Bolivia
- Longuemare's sunangel, Heliangelus clarisse – east Colombia and west Venezuela
- Merida sunangel, Heliangelus spencei – Mérida (northwest Venezuela)
- Gorgeted sunangel, Heliangelus strophianus – southwest Colombia and northwest Ecuador
- Tourmaline sunangel, Heliangelus exortis – Colombia and northwest Ecuador
- Flame-throated sunangel, Heliangelus micraster – Ecuador and Peru
- Purple-throated sunangel, Heliangelus viola – Ecuador and Peru
- Royal sunangel, Heliangelus regalis – north Peru
The Bogotá sunangel was formerly placed in this genus. It is regarded as a hybrid specimen by AviList based on a study published in 2018 by Jorge Pérez-Emán and colleagues.[6][7]
