Reddish Hermit

About the Reddish Hermit

The reddish hermit (Phaethornis ruber) is a species of bird in the family Trochilidae, the hummingbirds. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and the Guianas. In 1743 the English naturalist George Edwards included a picture and a description of the reddish hermit in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The little brown huming-bird". Edwards based his etching on a specimen owned by the Duke of Richmond that had been collected in Suriname. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the reddish hermit with the hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Trochilus ruber, and cited Edwards' work. The specific epithet ruber is a Latin word meaning "red". The type locality is Suriname. The reddish hermit is now placed in the genus Phaethornis that was introduced in 1827 by William Swainson. The reddish hermit has sometimes been considered conspecific with the white-browed hermit (P. stuarti).

Four subspecies are recognised: P. r. episcopus Gould, 1857 P. r. ruber (Linnaeus, 1758... Wikipedia →