Great-billed Hermit

About the Great-billed Hermit

The great-billed hermit (Phaethornis malaris) is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. The great-billed hermit's taxonomy is confusing. What are now the long-billed hermit (P. longirostris) and long-tailed hermit (P. superciliosus) were considered conspecific and included many subspecies that are now assigned to the great-billed hermit. A satisfactory taxonomic treatment of the entire P. longirostris/P. superciliosus/P. malaris group is still lacking according to some Neotropical ornithologists.

These six subspecies of great-billed hermit are generally recognized: P. m. malaris Nordmann (1835) P. m. insolitus Zimmer (1950) P. m. moorei Lawrence (1858) P. m. ochraceiventris Hellmayr (1907) P. m. bolivianus Gould (1861)

P. m. margarettae Ruschi (1972) The subspecies P. m. margarettae is sometimes treated as a separate species, "Margaretta's hermit" (P. margarettae), and P. m. ochraceiventris has also been considered for species rank. At least two other populations within the existing subspecies have been suggested as additional subspecies.

��2... Wikipedia →