Short-tailed woodstar
The short-tailed woodstar (Myrmia micrura) is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland where it is the only hummingbird of the woodstar variety. It usually feeds close to the ground and often is attracted to flowers planted around houses.
| Short-tailed woodstar | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Tribe: | Mellisugini |
| Genus: | Myrmia Mulsant, 1876 |
| Species: | M. micrura |
| Binomial name | |
| Myrmia micrura (Gould, 1854) | |
At 7 cm (2.7 in), it ties with the gorgeted woodstar as the smallest bird found in South America, though the little woodstar is scarcely longer.[2] This bird is pale shining green with a small whitish patch on the sides of the lower back extending down to the lower flanks. The gorget is glittering violet, bordered at the sides by white malar streaks and below by a white pectoral collar extending onto the sides of the neck. The underparts are all whitish. The tail is very short and black. The female and male plumages are similar but the female has no white on the lower back and is uniform pale buffy below.
References
- BirdLife International (2012). "Myrmia micrura". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Schulenberg, T.S.; Stotz, D.F.; Lane, D.F.; O'Neill, J.P.; Parker, T.A.; Egg, A.B. (2010). Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 250. ISBN 9781400834495. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
Further reading
- "The Birds of Ecuador" by Robert S. Ridgely & Paul Greenfield. Cornell University Press (2001), ISBN 978-0-8014-8722-4.