The Tyrian metaltail (Metallura tyrianthina) is a species of hummingbird in the subfamily Lesbiinae, the brilliants and coquettes. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Tyrian metaltail has these seven subspecies:
M. t. districta Bangs (1899)
M. t. chloropogon Cabanis & Heine (1860)
M. t. oreopola Todd (1913)
M. t. tyrianthina Loddiges (1832)
M. t. quitensis Gould (1861)
M. t. septentrionalis Hartert, E. (1899)
M. t. smaragdinicollis d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye (1838)
In the early twentieth century some authors treated M. t. chloropogon and M. t. smaragdinicollis as full species but that treatment has not been widely accepted.
Description
The Tyrian metaltail is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 2.7 to 5.1 g (0.10 to 0.18 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a short, straight, black bill. The male of the nominate subspecies has bottle green upperparts and gray underparts with pale fringes on the feathers. It has an emerald green throat and a slightly forked glistening bronze tail. The female is also bottle green above. Its throat and upper breast are ochre-orange with olive green spots and the lower breast and belly are whitish with green spots. Its outer tail feathers have whitish tips.
The plumage of the Tyrian metaltail's other subspecies differ from those of the nominate in some significant ways. M. t. districta has a violet tail and the female's underparts are not spotted. Both sexes of M. t. chloropogon have a coppery red tail; the male is otherwise almost completely black and the female has only a few spots on the throat and upper breast. M. t. oreopola's tail is golden red. The male's upperpart feathers have coppery bars near the ends and its underparts are green with pale fringes to the feathers. The female's throat and upper breast have few spots. M. t. quitensis has a longer bill than the nominate and a bronze-olive tail. M. t. septentrionalis's tail is purple-blue with...
