Ensifera ensifera, Photo: Michael Lahanas Cladus: Eukaryota
Name Ensifera ensifera, (Boissonneau, 1839) References Rev.Zool. 2(1839) p.354 Vernacular names ----------- Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) is a species of hummingbird from South America and the sole member of the genus Ensifera. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It is noted as the only species of bird to have a bill longer than the rest of its body. This adaptation is to feed on flowers with long corollas such as Passiflora mixta. The tongue is therefore also unusually long. Since the Sword-billed Hummingbird's beak is very long, it grooms itself with its feet.[1] The total length can be 15 cm (6 in) and the bird can weigh 12 grams, making it one of the largest hummingbirds. 1. ^ Clayton, Dale H; Cotgreave, Peter (1994). "Relationship of bill morphology to grooming behaviour in birds" (PDF). Animal Behaviour 47 (1): 195–201. doi:10.1006/anbe.1994.1022. http://darwin.biology.utah.edu/PubsHTML/PDF-Files/21.pdf. Source: Wikispecies, Wikipedia: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
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