Amazilia | |
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Rufous-tailed hummingbird, Amazilia tzacatl | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Clade: | Strisores |
Order: | Apodiformes |
Family: | Trochilidae |
Tribe: | Trochilini |
Genus: | Amazilia Lesson, RP, 1843 |
Type species | |
Ornismya cinnamomea[1] = Ornismia rutila Lesson, 1842
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Species | |
see text |
Amazilia is a hummingbird genus in the subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in tropical Central and South America.
The genus Amazilia was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist René Lesson.[2] Lesson had used amazilia in 1827 as the specific epithet of the amazilia hummingbird which is now the only species placed in the genus Amazilis.[3][4] The name comes from the Inca heroine in Jean-François Marmontel's novel Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'Empire du Pérou.[5][6] The type species was subsequently designated as the cinnamon hummingbird.[7][8]
The genus contains five species:[4]
An additional species is sometimes included:
This genus formerly included many more species. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the large genus was polyphyletic.[9] In the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, species were moved to Leucolia, Saucerottia, Amazilis, Uranomitra, Chrysuronia, Polyerata, Chionomesa, Elliotomyia and Chlorestes.[4][10]