| Amazilia | |
|---|---|
| | |
| 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 | |
| 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 four 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]