#calothorax

[herpsandbirds]

Lucifer Hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, West TX, USA

photograph by Troy Williams

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Calothorax

Lucifer Hummingbird by Greg Schechter, CC BY 2.0 

Etymology: Beautiful Breast

First Described By: Gould, 1859

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Strisores, Daedalornithes, Apodiformes, Trochilidae, Trochilinae  

Referred Species: C. pulcher (Beautiful Hummingbird), C. lucifer (Lucifer Hummingbird)

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene of the Quaternary 

The Lucifer and Beautiful Hummingbirds are known entirely from Mexico, though the Lucifer Hummingbird does creep into the southwestern corner of the United States 

Physical Description: Calothorax is a genus of hummingbirds, small dinosaurs that essentially convergently with insects. Calothorax ranges from 8 to 10 centimeters in length. Like most Hummingbirds, it has an ovular body, a small head, and a very long, skinny bill. The bodies of Calothorax are green in both sexes. The males have bright purple patches on their throats, while the females have orange splotches across their bellies and under their wings. Both have white patches along their throats and breasts. The females also have generally shorter bills. They have short, triangular wings for hovering, and tiny tail feathers. 

Beautiful Hummingbird by Michael Retter 

Diet: Like most hummingbirds, Calothorax feeds on nectar taken from flowers such as the Penstemon, Sierra Woolly Indian Paintbrush, Big Bend Anisacanthus, Yellow-Flowered Century Plant, and a variety of other flowers from cacti, grasses, and brushes. They do supplement their diet with flies.

Behavior: These birds hover near sources of nectar and use their long beaks to reach into the petals of the flower. They move their wings so fast that they are able to over, an ability that birds are not usually able to achieve. This also means that they have very strong chest muscles and extremely rapidly pumping hearts to help power this high-intensity movement. These birds make repeated, high-pitched squeaky tweets, as well as faint chirps and rattles. The wings themselves make hums like the wings of bees while they hover. 

Lucifer Sheartail by Geoff Gallic, CC BY 2.0 

The males, when wanting to mate with a female, will move back and forth in a horizontal hovering line. He then goes high up, before diving suddenly before her. The male then spreads his forked tail, making wacky calls to attract her. These birds breed from April through August, starting the breeding season later in the year the farther south they live. They tend to group their nests together, placing them on rocky slopes near streams, and built out of river-associated plants. They lay two small, white eggs, which are incubated by the female for two weeks, before spending three more weeks in the nest. The young birds then stay near the mother for three more weeks, where they can still be fed by the mother.

The Lucifer Hummingbird move across Mexico and into the United States based on the change of the dry and wet season, though some do remain in one spot. The Beautiful Hummingbird does not migrate.

Ecosystem: These birds live in arid and tropical scrub forest, usually at fairly higher elevations. 

Lucifer Hummingbird by Caleb Putnam, CC BY 2.0 

Other: These birds are not threatened due to a large range of foraging and breeding habitats, though the Beautiful Hummingbird is not as well known as the Lucifer Hummingbird.

Species Differences: The Lucifer and Beautiful Hummingbirds are virtually identical, and mainly differ in that the Lucifer Hummingbird is on average larger than the Beautiful Hummingbird - by a single centimeter - and also has a significantly larger range. Not to mention, the Beautiful Hummingbird remains confined in southern Mexico, while the Lucifer Hummingbird migrates from southern Mexico in the winter to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the summer.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the cut 

Jobling, J. A. 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Christopher Helm Publishing, A&C Black Publishers Ltd, London.

Prum, R.O. et al. 2015. A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing. Nature 526: 569–573.

Scott, P.E. & Boesman, P. (2019). Beautiful Hummingbird (Calothorax pulcher). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Scott, P.E. & Boesman, P. (2019). Lucifer Hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

[herpsandbirds]

Lucifer Hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, near Big Bend National Park, West TX, USA

photograph by Matt Walter

[herpsandbirds]

Hi there! I know you’re busy but if you get a chance, I’d love to see a Lucifer Sheartail hummingbird.

Of course, here you go...

Lucifer Hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Arizona, USA

photograph by Marky Muchler

Arizona - photograph by Brian Calk

Arizona - photograph by Fred Forsell

[wingedjewels]

lucifer hummingbird by hawk person on Flickr.