Longuemare's Sunangel
Heliangelus clarisse painted by John Gould
The Longuemare sun nymph ( Heliangelus clarisse ) is a species of bird in the family of hummingbirds ( Trochilidae ). The range of the species includes the South American country of Venezuela and Colombia. If you follow, however, the determination of many authors so you can consider the species as a subspecies of Amethystsonnennymphe ( Heliangelus amethysticollis ). The IUCN leads H. clarisse not.
Features
The Longuemare sun nymph reaches a body length of about 9.4 centimeters. The straight, black bill is about 18 millimeters long. The plumage leaves a rather dark impression. The upper part of the male is dark green. Following the definition of the Handbook of Birds of the World so has the subspecies spencei a jet black crown. In the subspecies violiceps it is purple and dull green when clarisse. All have a small sparkling blue crest on the beak. Postokular ( behind the eyes ) is a white spot. The throat is purple-violet, which is below separated by a sickle-shaped green line. The rest of the lower part is dark green and shimmering criss-crossed with gray. The Untersteiß ( Crissum ) is white and yellow brown only spencei. The tail feathers are colored bronze-green to black. The outer tail feathers have white spots. The female resembles the male, but is slightly darker. In addition, the throat may have white feathers.
Habitat
You can see the bird on forest edges with a high density of flowers such as Psammisia or heather -like vegetation. It is found at altitudes between 1800-3100 meters.
Behavior
The hummingbird is flying close to the ground and locked relative. The bird behaves territorially. He flies specifically and regularly to certain food plants such as vines, epiphytes or bushes eg Palicourea. His nectar he gets in Schwirrflug and by solid brackets. Furthermore, it feeds on flying insects, which he captured in flight. Here you can see him in mixed groups. The breeding season is from May to August.
Subspecies
If you follow the Handbook of Birds of the World as three subspecies can be distinguished.
- Heliangelus clarisse violiceps ( Phelps and Phelps, Jr., 1953)
- Heliangelus clarisse spencei ( Bourcier, 1847)
- Clarisse clarisse Heliangelus ( Longuemare, 1841)
The subspecies violiceps occurs on the Colombian- Venezuelan border in the Sierra de Perijá. Only in the state of Merida in the Andes of the Northwest Venezuela finds itself spencei. The eastern Andes of Colombia, in the provinces of Norte de Santander and Cundinamarca, and the adjacent Western Venezuela is home to the ssp. clarisse.
The subspecies Heliangelus clarisse verdiscutatus ( Phelps & Phelps Jr., 1959) is generally regarded as an invalid taxon.
The South American Check -list Committee of the American Ornithologists ' Union provides Heliangelus clarisse still as a subspecies. To a clear demarcation more data are expected here.
In addition, there is for some authors the opinion that the Méridasonnennymphe ( Heliangelus spencei ) a separate species and subspecies is not.
Originally described Longuemare the Longuemare sun nymph with the scientific name Ornismya clarisse.