Letitia's thorntail
species of bird
Letitia's thorntail (Discosura letitiae), also known as the coppery thorntail, is a very poorly known species of hummingbird in the "coquettes" tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It was named after Letizia del Gallo Roccagiovine (1848–1863), granddaughter of the ornithologist Charles Bonaparte.
Taxonomy and systematics
Letitia's thorntail is only known from two old male specimens described as from Bolivia. Localities for old skins often are unreliable, and it is possible they came from elsewhere. Consequently, its behavior and habitat are unknown but are likely similar to those of other thorntails. It has been suggested that it represented a hybrid or a variant of the racquet-tailed coquette, but a study by G.R. Graves has supported its status as a distinct species. Graves suggested the English name of Letitia's coquette because the specimens' tail feathers more closely resemble those of coquettes than those of thorntails.
Description
Graves described the specimens of Letitia's thorntail, but noted that the perceived colors of hummingbirds depend on the lighting and the observer's angle of view. The crown is brilliant golden-green that blends to dark bronze-green on the back with some coppery-bronze iridescence. The lower back is crossed by a narrow white band below which is a coppery red to coppery purple rump and bronze-green uppertail coverts.
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This entry incorporates text from “Letitia's thorntail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.