Planalto Hermit

About the Planalto Hermit

The planalto hermit (Phaethornis pretrei) is a species of hummingbird. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru. At one time, the planalto hermit was suggested to belong to a monotypic genus Anisoterus but this treatment was quickly rejected. It is closely related to the sooty-capped hermit (P. augusti) and may form a superspecies with it. It has no recognized subspecies, but several that have been proposed have been shown to be based on aberrant specimens or individual variation.

The planalto hermit is about 14 to 16.5 cm (5.5 to 6.5 in) long. Males weigh 4.5 to 7 g (0.16 to 0.25 oz) and females 3 to 5 g (0.11 to 0.18 oz). This medium-sized hermit has mostly olive green upperparts with reddish uppertail coverts. The next-to-inner tail feathers are longer than the others and all have white tips. Their underparts are cinnamon red. The face has a black "mask" with a white supercilium and gular stripe. The sexes are similar but the female has shorter wings and a less strongly decurved bill.

Major taxonomic systems place the planalto hermit in a wide swath of Brazil south of the Amazon rainforest... Wikipedia →