Hummingbird

Hummingbird

The hummingbird, also known as hummingbird, cuitelo, suck flower, pink-flower, suck honey, binga, Guanambi, guinumbi, guainumbi, guanumbi and mainoĩ, it is a bird in the Trochilidae family, consisting of 108 genera and 322 species known. In Brazil, some genres are given other names, such as tails-white genre Phaethornis or straight-nozzles Heliomaster genre. In the classificatory system of Sibley & Ahlquist, the Trochilidae family was part of a proper order, the Apodiformes. Among the group's distinctive features include the elongated beak, food-based nectar, eight pairs of ribs, fourteen to fifteen cervical vertebrae, iridescent plumage and an extensible and bifurcated tongue.

The group originated in the Americas and occurs from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Most species are tropical and subtropical, living between 10ºN and 25ºS latitudes. The largest group of biodiversity is found in Brazil and Ecuador, which have about half of the known species of hummingbird. The troquilídeos are absent from the Old World, where its ecological niche is filled by Nectariniidae family of Passeriformes order.