Discosura

Short description: Genus of birds

Discosura

Green thorntail, Discosura conversii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Aves
Clade:  | Strisores
Order:  | Apodiformes
Family:  | Trochilidae
Tribe:  | Lesbiini
Genus:  | Discosura
Bonaparte, 1850
Type species
Trochilus longicaudus (racket-tailed coquette)

Gmelin, JF, 1788

Species

5, see text

Discosura is a genus of South and Central American hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae. The thorntails are sometimes placed in the genus Popelairia (Reichenbach, 1854), leaving Discosura for the racket-tailed coquette. On the contrary, some have argued for merging this genus into Lophornis, which they overall resemble, except for the highly modified tail-feathers of the males.

## Taxonomy

The genus Discosura 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 racket-tailed coquette by George Robert Gray in 1855.[2][3] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek diskos meaning "plate" with oura meaning "tail".[4]

The genus contains five species.[5]

Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution

|
|
|

| Wire-crested thorntail | Discosura popelairii | Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
| Black-bellied thorntail | Discosura langsdorffi | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
| Letitia's thorntail | Discosura letitiae | Probably Bolivia (only known from two old specimens of uncertain origin)
| Green thorntail | Discosura conversii | Costa Rica to Ecuador
| Racket-tailed coquette | Discosura longicaudus | Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and southern Venezuela

## References

1. ↑ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1850) (in Latin). Conspectus Generum Avium. 1. Leiden: E.J. Brill. p. 84. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43560131.
2. ↑ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 22. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/17136642.
3. ↑ Peters, James Lee, ed (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 35. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480046.
4. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4. https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n137/mode/1up.
5. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds (January 2022). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/hummingbirds/. Retrieved 11 July 2022.

Wikidata ☰ Q906152 entry

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