The white-vented plumeleteer (Chalybura buffonii) is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
Most taxonomic systems assign five subspecies to the white-vented plumeleteer:
C. b. micans Bangs & Barbour, 1922
C. b. buffonii Lesson, RP, (1832)
C. b. aeneicauda Lawrence, 1865
C. b. caeruleogaster Gould, (1847)
C. b. intermedia Hartert, EJO & Hartert, CBE, 1894
However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assigns C. b. intermedia as a subspecies of bronze-tailed plumeleteer (C. urochrysia).
Both C. b. caeruleogaster and C. b. intermedia have at times been proposed as separate species.
Description
The white-vented plumeleteer is 10.5 to 12 cm (4.1 to 4.7 in) long. Males weigh 6 to 7.3 g (0.21 to 0.26 oz) and females 5.9 to 7.9 g (0.21 to 0.28 oz). All of the subspecies except intermedia have a black bill and black feet; that one has a pinkish base to the mandible and pale pink to red feet.
Males of the nominate subspecies C. b. buffonii have mostly dark metallic green upperparts with a bronzy tinge to the crown and coppery bronze uppertail coverts. Their upper breast is bluish, lower breast bright metallic green, the lower belly whitish, and the undertail coverts long and white. Their tail is blue-black with a bronze gloss on the central feathers. Nominate females are paler metallic green above and gray below with green speckles on the side. Their tail is like the males' with the addition of dull gray tips on the outer feathers.
Subspecies C. b. micans is larger than the nominate. Males' central tail feathers are a deeper blue and females' undersides are a clearer gray. C. b. aeneicauda males are a more golden-green below than the nominate and their central tail feathers are bright bronze-green to copper-bronze. Females have pale gray underparts with sparse green...
