The genus Chrysuronia was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[1] Bonaparte did not specify a type species but this was designated as the golden-tailed sapphire in 1855 by George Robert Gray.[2][3] The genus name is a portmanteau of the specific names of two synonyms of the golden-tailed sapphire: Ornismya chrysura Lesson, R, 1832 and Ornismia oenone Lesson, 1832.[4]
This genus formerly included only a single species, the golden-tailed sapphire. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genera Amazilia and Lepidopyga were polyphyletic.[5] In the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, Chrysuronia was broadened to include species that had previous been placed in Amazilia, Hylocharis and Lepidopyga.[6][7]
The genus now contains ten species:[6]
More information Common name, Scientific name and subspecies ...
Genus Chrysuronia – Bonaparte, 1850 – ten species
| Common name |
Scientific name and subspecies |
Range |
Size and ecology |
IUCN status and estimated population |
| Shining-green hummingbird
 Male
 Female
|
Chrysuronia goudoti (Bourcier, 1843)
|
Colombia and Venezuela
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
| Golden-tailed sapphire
 Male
 Female
|
Chrysuronia oenone (Lesson, R, 1832) |
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
| Versicolored emerald
 Male
|
Chrysuronia versicolor (Vieillot, 1818) |
northern Bolivia, eastern Paraguay, far north-eastern Argentina, and eastern, southern and central Brazil
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
EN
|
| Mangrove hummingbird

|
Chrysuronia boucardi (Mulsant, 1877) |
Costa Rica.
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
| Sapphire-throated hummingbird
 Male
|
Chrysuronia coeruleogularis (Gould, 1851)
- C. c. coeruleogularis
- C. c. coelina
- C. c. conifis
|
Panama, Colombia, and more recently Costa Rica
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
| Sapphire-bellied hummingbird
|
Chrysuronia lilliae (Stone, 1917) |
Colombia
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
EN
|
| Humboldt's sapphire

|
Chrysuronia humboldtii (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1852) |
Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
| Blue-headed sapphire

|
Chrysuronia grayi (Delattre & Bourcier, 1846) |
Colombia and Ecuador.
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
| White-chested emerald

|
Chrysuronia brevirostris (Lesson, R, 1829)
- C. b. brevirostris
- C. b. chionopectus
- C. b. orienticola
|
Brazil, the Guianas, Trinidad, and Venezuela.
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
| Plain-bellied emerald

|
Chrysuronia leucogaster (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- C. l. leucogaster (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- C. l. bahiae (Hartert, E, 1899)
|
Brazil, the Guianas, and Venezuela.
 |
Size:
Habitat:
Diet: |
LC
|
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