The guide to plumages in the southern Selasphorus

I had an opportunity to visit the US National Museum in Washington DC earlier this month. As I've said before, I have an interest in the historical biogeography of the the species of Selasphorus that are found in Costa Rica and Panama. There's a lot ofconfusion about species limits and plumage patterns. Here's a quick guide.

The current, definitive taxonomy of this group comes from Gary Stiles's 1983 article published in the Auk. That article can be freely accessed on line from the SORA collection, here. Stiles notes the following taxa:

Selasphorus flammula (Volcano Hummingbird) with three subspecies

flammula (endemic to the Irazú and Turrialba volcanoes in Costa Rica)

simoni (endemic to Volcán Poás in Costa Rica)

torridus (the most widespread form, througout the Talamanca range in Costa Rica and Panama)

Selasphorus scintilla (Scintillant Hummingbird) with one subspecies

Selasphorus ardens (Glow-throated Hummingbird)

with three subspecies

It's important to note that prior to Stiles's work, no one was certain of the relationship amongst the three subspecies of Volcano Hummingbird,

and often it was considered that one or two of these subspecies as actually related to either the Glow-throated or the Scintillant (for reasons that will make sense when you look at the photo to the right). Gary focused on morphological characteristics to determine species limits. And from looking at dozens of prepared study skins, Gary found that throat color not withstanding, he could lump the specimens into three bins (flammula, scintilla, and ardens).

So, above, I present a figure of the three plumages of the Volcano Hummingbird, and the Scintillant Hummingbird. I don't show the Glow-throated Hummingbird, because the US National Museum didn't have any specimens (at least male specimens). There aren't vary many specimens of Selasphorus ardens (Glow-throated) out there; so perhaps George Angehr can get a photo the net time that he's at the American Museum on Central Park West. Based on field guides and George's description of the Glow-throated Hummingbird, it must look a lot like the simoni race of Volcano Hummingbird.

And there is an apocryphal account of a Selasphorus from the top of Cerro Hoyo, with no surviving specimens, that might very well be another species lost to science. Obviously, I don't have a photograph of that one either.