Selasphorus flammula

Selasphorus flammula (*)

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: Selasphorus
Species: Selasphorus flammula
Subspecies: S. f. flammula – S. f. simoni – S. f. torridus
Name

Selasphorus flammula Salvin, 1864

Type locality: Volcán de Cartago, i.e. Volcán de Irazu, Costa Rica.

References

Salvin, O. 1864. Descriptions of Seventeen New Species of Birds from Costa Rica. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London Pt. 3: 579-586. BHL Reference page. p. 586

Vernacular names
English: Volcano Hummingbird
español: Chispita volcanera
français: Colibri flammule

The volcano hummingbird (Selasphorus flammula) is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.[3][4] This hummingbird is the one that appears on the 20 thousand colones bill from Costa Rica.
Taxonomy and systematics

The volcano hummingbird has three subspecies, the nominate S. f. flammula, S. f. torridus, and S. f. simoni.[3] All three have at times been treated as color morphs rather than subspecies and at other times as individual species.[5]
Female in Panama
Description

The volcano hummingbird is 7.5 to 8 cm (3.0 to 3.1 in) long. Males weigh about 2.5 g (0.088 oz) and females 2.8 g (0.099 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a short, straight, black bill and a small white spot behind the eye. The adult male of the nominate subspecies has bronze-green upperparts and rufous-edged black outer tail feathers. Its gorget is mauve-purple and the rest of the underparts mostly white. The sides of the breast have a buffy to pale cinnamon wash and green speckles. The adult female is also bronze-green above. Its central tail feathers are green and the rest have rufous bases, a black band near the end, and buffy to white tips. The throat is whitish with dusky bronze speckles and the rest of the underparts are like the male's. Juveniles are similar to the adult female but have buffy fringes on the upperparts' feathers.[5]

Both sexes of subspecies S. f. torridus are whiter below than the nominate, and males have a purplish-gray gorget. Both sexes of S. f. simoni are buffier below than the nominate and have more black on the tail. The male's gorget is rose red.[5]
Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of volcano hummingbird is found on Volcanoes Irazú and Turrialba in central Costa Rica. Subspecies S. f. torridus is found on the Cordillera de Talamanca of southern Costa Rica and on Volcán Barú in extreme western Panama. S. f. simoni is found on Volcanes Poás and Barva (or Barba) in central Costa Rica.[3]

The species inhabits a variety of semi-open to open habitats on high mountain slopes. Examples include páramo, second growth on landslide scars or ashfall areas, scrubby pastures, and the edges of elfin forest and taller forest. It is found mostly between elevations of 2,000 and 3,500 m (6,600 and 11,500 ft) but occurs locally down to 1,800 m (5,900 ft) and seasonally as low as 1,350 m (4,400 ft).[5]
Behavior
Movement

The volcano hummingbird breeds at the higher elevations of its range, and after breeding some descend much lower and may even move to an adjacent mountain. The latter allows some mixing of the subspecies.[5]
Feeding

The volcano hummingbird forages for nectar at a wide variety of flowers, mostly small ones on shrubs, vines, herbs, and small trees. It also feeds from larger flowers that bees or flowerpiercers (Diglossa) have made holes in. Males commonly defend clusters of flowers and females do so less frequently. In addition to nectar the species feeds on small arthropods taken on the wing or, for the female especially, by gleaning from foliage or picking from spider webs.[5]
Breeding

The volcano hummingbird's breeding season spans from August or September to February. The male defends small territories that are independent of nectar resources though flowers are usually nearby, and makes dive displays directed at females. The female makes a cup nest of plant down and spider web covered with moss and lichens. It is placed at the outermost end of a twig, usually between 1 and 5 m (3 and 20 ft) above the ground. Nests are sometimes also attached to a rootly drooping from a projecting earth bank such as by a road. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.[5]

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

The volcano hummingbird makes "soft chip notes" while foraging. Males make "a thin whistled 'teeeeeuu'" whose purpose is not noted and "a twittering 'scolding'" call during agonistic encounters with other males. During the dive display the male's tail feathers make a series of broad-frequency pulses.[5]
Status

The IUCN has assessed the volcano hummingbird as being of Least Concern. It has a fairly large range and an apparently stable population between 20,000 and 50,000 mature individuals.[1] All three subspecies occur in protected areas, and outside them they might benefit from human activity as they are more abundant in open areas than forest.[5]
References

BirdLife International (2021). "Volcano Hummingbird Selasphorus flammula". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T22688302A167031365. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22688302A167031365.en. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
"Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (January 2022). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List. v 12.1. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
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 27 May 2021

Stiles, F.G. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Volcano Hummingbird (Selasphorus flammula), 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.volhum1.01 retrieved July 28, 2022.