Eriocnemis
| Eriocnemis | |
|---|---|
| Eriocnemis luciani | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Tribe: | Heliantheini |
| Genus: | Eriocnemis Reichenbach, 1849 |
| Type species | |
| Eriopus simplex[1] Gould, 1849
| |
| Species | |
|
see text. | |
Eriocnemis is a genus of hummingbirds, which - together with the species in the genus Haplophaedia - are known as pufflegs. They occur in humid forest, woodland and shrub at elevations of 1000 to 4800 meters above sea level in the Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. The males have a colourful green, coppery or blue plumage, and the females are generally somewhat duller. The most striking feature of both sexes in the genus Eriocnemis are their dense snow-white leg-puffs which consist of feather tufts that resemble woolly panties. One species, the black-thighed puffleg - is characterized by black coloured leg-puffs. Most have a contrasting blue, purple or coppery-red vent, but this is green in the black-thighed and emerald-bellied puffleg. Further common features of all species are the straight black bill and the slightly to deeply forked tail. The genus name was coined by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach who called them Snowy panties.
While most members of this genus remain fairly common, three species (colorful puffleg, black-breasted puffleg and gorgeted puffleg) are critically endangered and one (the turquoise-throated puffleg) is possibly extinct.
Taxonomy
The genus Eriocnemis was introduced in 1849 by German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. Reichenbach provided a diagnostic drawing of the bill and another of the legs but did not list any species within the genus.[2][3] The type species was defined in 1852 when John Gould published a colored plate with accompanying text where he placed his previously described species Eriopus simplex in the genus Eriocnemis.[4] Gould's name is a junior synonym of Trochilus cuprioventris Fraser, the coppery-bellied puffleg.[5] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek εριον/erion meaning "wool" with κνημις/knēmis, κνημιδος/knēmidos meaning "boot" or "legging".[6]
Species
The genus contains 11 species:[7]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black-breasted puffleg
|
Eriocnemis nigrivestis (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1852) |
Ecuador |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
EN
|
| Gorgeted puffleg
|
Eriocnemis isabellae Cortés-Diago, Ortega, Mazariegos-Hurtado & Weller, 2007 |
Colombia |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
CR
|
| Glowing puffleg
|
Eriocnemis vestita (Lesson, 1839) |
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Black-thighed puffleg
|
Eriocnemis derbyi (Delattre & Bourcier, 1846) |
Colombia and Ecuador |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NT
|
| Turquoise-throated puffleg
|
Eriocnemis godini (Bourcier, 1851) |
Ecuador |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
CR
|
| Coppery-bellied puffleg
|
Eriocnemis cupreoventris (Fraser, 1840) |
Colombia and Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NT
|
| Sapphire-vented puffleg
|
Eriocnemis luciani (Bourcier, 1847) Five subspecies
|
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and possibly Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Golden-breasted puffleg
|
Eriocnemis mosquera (Delattre & Bourcier, 1846) |
Colombia and Ecuador. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Blue-capped puffleg
|
Eriocnemis glaucopoides (d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1838) |
Argentina and Bolivia. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Colorful puffleg
|
Eriocnemis mirabilis Meyer de Schauensee, 1967 |
Colombia |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
CR
|
| Emerald-bellied puffleg
|
Eriocnemis aline (Bourcier, 1843) |
Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
In addition there were the controversial species: Eriocnemis söderströmi, E. isaacsoni and E. dyselius which were each only known by one specimen. In the case of E. söderströmi it could have been either the female of E. godini or a hybrid between E. luciani and E. nigrivestris. E. dyselius was nothing more than a melanistic individual of E. cupreoventris. Today these species are considered invalid.
References
- ^ "Trochilidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
- ^ Reichenbach, Ludwig (1850). Avium Systema Naturale (in German). Dresden and Leipzig: Expedition Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte. Plate XL.
- ^ Hemming, Francis, ed. (1958) [1912]. Opinion 46 On the status of genera for which no species was distinctly named in the original publication. Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Vol. 1 Section B. London: International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. pp. 104–107.
- ^ Gould, John (1853). A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds. Vol. 3. London: self. Plate 271 and text (part 3 Plate 8). The 5 volumes were issued in 25 parts between 1849 and 1861. Title pages of all volumes bear the date of 1861. For the publication date of the plate see: Waterhouse, Frederick Herschel (1885). The Dates of Publication of Some of the Zoological Works of the Late John Gould, F.R.S. London: R.H. Porter. pp. 48–49.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 108.
- ^ Jobling, James A. "Eriocnemis". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
Further reading
- Heynen, I. (1999). Genus Eriocnemis. pp. 639–641 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J. eds. (1999). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-25-3
- Systematics and biogeography of the Andean genus Eriocnemis (Aves: Trochilidae) (Abstract)