Streamertail

"Trochilus" redirects here. For other uses, see Trochilus (disambiguation).

The streamertails are hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus that are endemic to Jamaica. It is the type genus of the family Trochilidae. Today, most authorities consider the two taxa in this genus as separate species, but some (e.g. AOU) continue to treat them as conspecific, in which case T. scitulus is a subspecies of T. polytmus. A wide range of common names applies to this combined species, including green-and-black streamertail, Jamaican streamertail, or simply streamertail. The name "streamertail" is a reference to the greatly elongated rectrices of the males.

Streamertail
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Strisores
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Tribe:	Trochilini
Genus:	Trochilus Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Trochilus polytmus Linnaeus, 1758
Species
1-2, see text

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Trochilus was introduced in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae.^[1] The genus name is from the Ancient Greek τροχιλος/trokhilos, a small unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle. Later authors assumed the word referred to a wren.^[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the red-billed streamertail.^[3][4] In his Systema Naturae, Linnaeus included 18 species of hummingbirds, all of which he placed in Trochilus. Today, 12 of these species are still recognised, but only the red-billed streamertail is retained in its original genus.^[1][5] Two species are now placed in the genus.^[5]

Genus Trochilus – Linnaeus, 1758 – two species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Red-billed streamertail Male Female	Trochilus polytmus Linnaeus, 1758	Jamaica	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Black-billed streamertail	Trochilus scitulus (Brewster & Bangs, 1901)	eastern Jamaica	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC