The crowned woodnymph (Thalurania colombica) or violet-crowned woodnymph, is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae.
It is found from Belize and Guatemala to far-northern Peru.
Taxonomy and systematics
The crowned woodnymph was formally described in 1843 by the French ornithologist Jules Bourcier from a specimen collected in Colombia. He coined the binomial name Ornismya colombica. This species is now placed in the genus Thalurania that was introduced by John Gould in 1848.
Seven subspecies are recognised:
T. c. townsendi Ridgway, 1888
T. c. venusta (Gould, 1851)
T. c. colombica (Bourcier, 1843)
T. c. rostrifera Phelps & Phelps Jr, 1956
T. c. fannyae (Delattre & Bourcier, 1846)
T. c. subtropicalis Griscom, 1932
T. c. verticeps (Gould, 1851)
T. c. hypochlora Gould, 1871
From about 1992 until 2012 or 2013, T. c. fannyae was treated as a separate species, the green-crowned woodnymph, with T. c. subtropicalis and T. c. verticeps as subspecies. Some authors also treated T. c. hypochlora separately as the emerald-bellied woodnymph.
The Mexican woodnymph (Eupherusa ridgwayi) has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of the crowned woodnymph.
Description
Male crowned woodnymphs are 9.5 to 11.5 cm (3.7 to 4.5 in) long and weigh 4 to 5.5 g (0.14 to 0.19 oz). Females are 8.5 to 9.2 cm (3.3 to 3.6 in) long and weigh 3.5 to 4.2 g (0.12 to 0.15 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. c. colombica have a violet forehead, crown, upper back, and belly. Their nape is dark bronzy green and lower back and rump dark bluish green. Their throat and chest are glittering green. Their deeply forked tail is blue-black. Adult females have bright green upperparts, pale gray throat and chest, and darker gray belly. The tail is blue-black with white tips on the outer three pairs of feathers. Immature males have dusky crown, throat, and underparts with very limited iridescent purple feathers....
