Tyrian Metaltail

About the Tyrian Metaltail

The Tyrian metaltail (Metallura tyrianthina) is a species of hummingbird in the subfamily Lesbiinae, the brilliants and coquettes. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The Tyrian metaltail has these seven subspecies:

M. t. districta Bangs (1899) M. t. chloropogon Cabanis & Heine (1860) M. t. oreopola Todd (1913) M. t. tyrianthina Loddiges (1832) M. t. quitensis Gould (1861) M. t. septentrionalis Hartert, E. (1899) M. t. smaragdinicollis d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye (1838)

In the early twentieth century some authors treated M. t. chloropogon and M. t. smaragdinicollis as full species but that treatment has not been widely accepted. The Tyrian metaltail is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 2.7 to 5.1 g (0.10 to 0.18 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a short, straight, black bill. The male of the nominate subspecies has bottle green upperparts and gray underparts with pale fringes on the feathers. It has an emerald green throat and a slightly forked glistening bronze tail. The female is also bottle green above. Its throat and upper breast are ochre-orange with olive green spots and the lower breast and... Wikipedia →