Discosura
Green thorntail, Discosura conversii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Tribe: Lesbiini
Genus: Discosura
Bonaparte, 1850
Type species
Trochilus longicaudus (racket-tailed coquette)
Species

5, see text

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-tailed coquette. 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.

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-tailed coquette 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]

Image Common Name Scientific name Distribution
Wire-crested thorntail Discosura popelairii Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
Black-bellied thorntail Discosura langsdorffi Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Letitia's thorntail Discosura letitiae Probably Bolivia (only known from two old specimens of uncertain origin)
Green thorntail Discosura conversii Costa Rica to Ecuador
Racket-tailed coquette Discosura longicaudus Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and southern Venezuela

References

  1. ^ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1850). Conspectus Generum Avium (in Latin). Vol. 1. Leiden: E.J. Brill. p. 84.
  2. ^ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 22.
  3. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 35.
  4. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 11 July 2022.


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