Purple-throated sunbird

Not to be confused with Purple-throated sunangel.

Purple-throated sunbird
A male ssp. trochilus
A male ssp. juliae, also known as the Orange-lined sunbird
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Nectariniidae
Genus: Leptocoma
Species:
L. sperata
Binomial name
Leptocoma sperata
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms
  • Certhia sperata Linnaeus, 1766
  • Nectarinia sperata (Linnaeus, 1766)

The purple-throated sunbird (Leptocoma sperata), is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. Its natural habitats are lowland tropical forests and tropical mangrove forests of Maratua and the Philippines.

The Van Hasselt's sunbird was previously considered conspecific.

Description and taxonomy

EBird describes it as "A very small bird of wooded areas from the lowlands to lower elevations in the mountains. Male has dark upperparts with a greenish crown and rump, a deep purple throat and upper chest, and a bright red lower chest and upper belly. In Sulu and west Mindanao birds, the red on the chest is replaced by yellow with an orange wash. Male is distinctive. Female resembles several other drab female sunbirds, but has a yellow brow and chest and a brown wing. Call is a sharp upslurred “tsweep!”"

Illustration of subspecies ''L. s. juliae''

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the purple-throated sunbird in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in the Philippines. He used the French name Le grimpereau pourpré des Philippines and the Latin Certhia Philippensis Purpurea.[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.[3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.[3] One of these was the purple-throated sunbird. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Certhia sperata and cited Brisson's work.[4] Linnaeus specified the type location as the Philippines but this was subsequently restricted to Manila.[5] The specific name sperata is Latin for "bride" or "betrothed".[6] The species is now placed in the genus Leptocoma was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1850.[7]

A pair of Orange-lined sunbird. Male on the left and female on the right

Four subspecies are recognised:[8]

The subspecies juliae is split under Handbook of the Birds of the World as Orange-lined sunbird.

Habitat and conservation status

Its natural habitats at tropical moist lowland primary forest and secondary forest, gardens and plantations mostly in the lowlands.

The IUCN Red List has assessed this bird as least-concern species although it is poorly known. It is common across its range and seems to tolerate more disturbed habitats.

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Leptocoma sperata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T103795170A132195051. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T103795170A132195051.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 655–658, Plate 31 figs 2, 3. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
  3. ^ a b Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 28: 317–335. hdl:2246/678.
  4. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 186.
  5. ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 237.
  6. ^ Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  7. ^ Cabanis, Jean; Heine, Ferdinand (1850). Museum Heineanum : Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine, auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt (in German and Latin). Vol. 1. Halberstadt: R. Frantz. p. 104.
  8. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Dippers, leafbirds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  • Rasmussen, P.C., and J.C. Anderton. 2005. Birds of South Asia. The Ripley guide. Volume 2: attributes and status. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions, Washington D.C. and Barcelona.


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