The white-booted racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
The white-booted racket-tail, as defined by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy, has five subspecies. They both include two more species in genus Ocreatus, the Peruvian racket-tail (O. peruanus) and the Rufous-booted racket-tail (O. addae). However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assigns the name "booted racket-tail" to O. underwoodii and includes those two taxa as subspecies of it. HBW also includes an eighth subspecies, O. u. annae. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC) follows the eight-subspecies model but has requested a proposal to elevate puruanus, addae, and annae to species status.
The five subspecies recognized by the IOC are:
O. u. polystictus Todd (1942)
O. u. discifer Heine (1863)
O. u. underwoodii Lesson (1832)
O. u. incommodus Kleinschmidt (1943)
O. u. melanantherus Jardine (1851)
Male O. u. melanantherus, Ecuador
Female O. u. melanantherus, Ecuador
