Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

Rufous-crested Coquette (Lophornis delattrei) - HBW 5, p. 567

French: Coquette de Delattre German: Zierelfe Spanish: Coqueta Crestirrufa
Other common names: Dusky Coquette (“melaniae”)

Taxonomy: Ornismya (Lophorinus) DeLattrei Lesson, 1839, no locality = Moyobamba, Peru.
Forms a superspecies with L. brachylophus and possibly L. stictolophus; has been considered conspecific with former. Proposed species “L. melaniae”, apparently from Colombia, probably represents aberrant individuals or faded skins of present species; it is not, as previously reported, melanistic. Bolivian birds were tentatively split as race regulus, but, despite some possible differences in female plumage, probably best treated as synonym of nominate. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • lessoni Simon, 1921 - Pacific and Caribbean slopes of SW Costa Rica and Panama, and C & E Andes of Colombia (Magdalena Valley and Santander).
  • delattrei (Lesson, 1839) - E Peru and N Bolivia (to Beni and Santa Cruz).

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