Racket-tailed Coquette

Diskuselfe John Gould Henry Constantine Richter painted by

The Diskuselfe ( Discosura longicaudus ) is a species of bird in the family of hummingbirds ( Trochilidae ). The species has a large distribution area, which covers about 1.9 million square kilometers in the South American countries of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil. The stock is assessed by the IUCN as not at risk ( least concern ). There is so far no known subspecies of Diskuselfe. Therefore, the species is considered monotypic.

Features

The male Diskuselfe has a body length of about 10.2 cm, while the female is only 6.9 inches tall. They have a weight of about 3.4 g When violet forked tail of the male, the outer feathers with about 5 cm is very much longer than the rest at the ends are two black purple flags. The crown, the neck and the upper chest part are brilliant emerald green. The lower part of the breast is copper- gold and white on the belly. The back sparkles green and has a yellow-brown whitish band on the rump. The female has no such glittering green feathers. The top is similar to the male, also has a yellow- brown whitish band on the rump. The black throat is side-seamed white. The chest shines green and the belly is yellowish brown white. The forked tail also reaches a length of about 2.5 centimeters, but has at the end no flags. He is gray with a distinct violet subterminal area. The outer feathers have white speckles.

Behavior

Mostly you see them in the treetops hapaxanther plants where they gather together with other species of hummingbirds nectar. Mostly they steal the nectar of larger territorial hummingbirds and it is not rare that they are shooed away from these. Your flight is relatively slow and resembles that of the bees. Very often they're sitting on the branches in the outer area of tree crowns. Among other things, they fly to the flowers of Inga and cashew.

Distribution and habitat

The bird moves in the tropical zone. Thus, it is preferably to watch rivers of the rainforest. He is usually observed at forest edges and secondary forests. They move in heights up to 400 meters, but usually only up to 200 meters in the central and western part of the Venezuelan state of Amazonas. In Brazil, they are found in the north and east of the country.

Etymology and History of Research

Johann Friedrich Gmelin used the protonym Trochilus longicaudus. Only later did the Diskuselfe the new genus by Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Discosura Bonaparte was slammed.

The name " Discosura " derives from the Greek words " discos " δίσκος for " plate, disc ," and " oura " οὐρά for " tail " from. The epithet " longicaudus " is of Latin origin and comes from the words " longus " for " long " and " cauda " for " tail " from.