Metallura tyrianthina

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Euavialae
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Superordo: Caprimulgimorphae
Ordo: Apodiformes

Familia: Trochilidae
Subfamilia: Trochilinae
Genus: Metallura
Species: Metallura tyrianthina
Name

Metallura tyrianthina (Loddiges, 1832)
References

PZS Pt2 no.15 p.6,7

Vernacular names
English: 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.[3][4]

Taxonomy and systematics

The Tyrian metaltail has these seven subspecies:[3]

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.[3][5][6][4]
Tyrian metaltail in NW Ecuador

Description

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 belly are whitish with green spots. Its outer tail feathers have whitish tips.[7]

The plumage of the Tyrian metaltail's other subspecies differ from those of the nominate in some significant ways. M. t. districta has a violet tail and the female's underparts are not spotted. Both sexes of M. t. chloropogon have a coppery red tail; the male is otherwise almost completely black and the female has only a few spots on the throat and upper breast. M. t. oreopola's tail is golden red. The male's upperpart feathers have coppery bars near the ends and its underparts are green with pale fringes to the feathers. The female's throat and upper breast have few spots. M. t. quitensis has a longer bill than the nominate and a bronze-olive tail. M. t. septentrionalis's tail is purple-blue with green inclusions and the male's underparts are white with bronze-olive spots. M. t. smaragdinicollis has a violet tail like districta but the female's throat and upper breast are heavily spotted like those of the nominate.[7]
Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of Tyrian metaltail are found thus:[3][7]

M. t. districta, northern Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and northwestern Venezuela's Serranía del Perijá
M. t. chloropogon, the Venezuelan Coastal Range between the states of Aragua and Miranda
M. t. oreopola, the Andes of Venezuela from southwestern Lara south to northern Táchira
M. t. tyrianthina, from southern Táchira south through all three Andean chains of Colombia and eastern and southern Ecuador into Piura department in extreme northern Peru
M. t. quitensis, northwestern Ecuador
M. t. septentrionalis, the west slope of the Peruvian Andes west of the Marañón River between the departments of Cajamarca and Lima
M. t. smaragdinicollis, the east slope of the Peruvian Andes from the department of Amazonas south and east across central Bolivia into Santa Cruz department

The Tyrian metaltail inhabits the interior of several humid open landscapes including secondary forest, cloudforest, mossy treeline scrub, and elfin forest. It also occurs at the edges or in brushy parts of páramo. In elevation it ranges from 1,500 to 4,200 m (4,900 to 13,800 ft) but in most areas is most common between 2,500 to 3,300 m (8,200 to 10,800 ft) and in the Venezuelan coastal mountains at about 1,000 m (3,300 ft).[7]
Behavior
A Tyrian Metaltail in Peru
Movement

The Tyrian metaltail makes significant elevational movements between the seasons, even occurring casually as low as 600 m (2,000 ft) in Venezuela.[7]
Feeding

The Tyrian metaltail forages in the canopy of bushes and medium-sized trees, where males defend territories. It takes nectar from a variety of flowering plants, both by inserting its bill into the corolla while hovering or clinging to it and occasionally by piercing the base of the flower to "rob" nectar. It also feeds on small insects on the wing.[7]
Breeding

The Tyrian metaltail's breeding seasons vary widely along its north-south distribution. The female alone builds the nest, incubates the eggs, and cares for the young. It first breeds in its second year. The nest is an open cup made of moss, lichens, liverwort, and other plant material. It may be unlined or lined with soft cottony seeds. It is placed in a rocky niche or suspended from roots on an earthen or rocky bank. The clutch size is two eggs.[7][8]

Dickcissel male perched on a metal pole singing, with neck stretched and beak open.

Songs and calls
Listen to Tyrian metaltail on xeno-canto
Vocalization

The Tyrian metaltail does not sing often; its song is "a repeated series of weak, high-pitched, lispy notes 'seek..sik..see..si..see..sip..see.......see..seek..see..see...'." It more often calls while chasing, "alternating stuttering trills and repeated phrases of squeaky notes 'trr..trr..trr..tsi-see-sew-sew...tsi-see-sew-sew...'". It also makes "a brief rattle and short 'tsit' or 'pit' notes.[7]
Status

The IUCN has assessed the Tyrian metaltail as being of Least Concern. Though its population size is not known, it is believed to be stable.[1] It is common throughout its large range and locally very abundant. It appears "less sensitive to man-induced environmental changes than other Metallura species" and occurs in many protected areas.[7]
References

BirdLife International (2016). "Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22688015A93180096. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22688015A93180096.en. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
"Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P. (July 2021). "IOC World Bird List (v 11.2)". Retrieved July 14, 2021.
HBW and BirdLife International (2020) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip [.xls zipped 1 MB] retrieved May 27, 2021
Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021
Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021
Heindl, M., P. F. D. Boesman, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Tyrian Metaltail (Metallura tyrianthina), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.tyrmet1.01 retrieved December 16, 2021
Soto-Patiño, Juliana; Pérez-Peña, Sebastiân; Córdoba-Córdoba, Sergio; Ocampo, David (2021). "On the nests, eggs, and reproductive evidence of Tyrian Metaltail (Metallura tyrianthina) and Glowing Puffleg (Eriocnemis vestita) in the northeastern Colombian Andes". The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 133 (1): 110–116.