Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

Rainbow Starfrontlet (Coeligena iris) - HBW 5, p. 631

French: Inca iris German: Grünroter Andenkolibri Spanish: Inca Arcoiris
Other common names: King Louis (XVI) Starfrontlet

Taxonomy: Helianthea Iris Gould, 1854, eastern slope of the Andes.
A problem exists regarding nomenclature of race aurora: description of name warszewizii [sic] obviously describes the same race, but described in same year and cannot be dated exactly to the month; in absence of clarification, aurora has become the accepted name. Proposed race hypocrita (Chachapoyas), based on immature plumage, is synonym of fulgidiceps. Six subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

hesperus (Gould, 1865) - SW Ecuador (Cuenca).
iris (Gould, 1854) - S Ecuador (Loja) to N Peru (Piura).
aurora (Gould, 1854) - N Peru (Cutervo, Cerros de Amachonga).

See all 6 subspecies

hesperus (Gould, 1865) - SW Ecuador (Cuenca).
iris (Gould, 1854) - S Ecuador (Loja) to N Peru (Piura).
aurora (Gould, 1854) - N Peru (Cutervo, Cerros de Amachonga).
fulgidiceps (Simon, 1921) - N Peru E of Marañón (Chachapoyas, Tamiapampa, Leimebamba, Levanto).
flagrans Zimmer, 1951 - NW Peru (Cajamarca).
eva (Salvin, 1897) - N Peru W of R Marañón on E slope of W Andes (Cajamarca, La Libertad).