Barbthroat Explained

The barbthroats are a genus Threnetes of South American hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae.

Taxonomy

The genus Threnetes was introduced in 1852 by the English ornithologist John Gould.^[1] The name is from the Ancient Greek thrēnētēs meaning "mourner".^[2] The type species is the pale-tailed barbthroat.^[3] The genus contains three species.^[4]

Image	Name	Common name	Distribution
	Threnetes leucurus		Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela
	Threnetes niger		French Guiana
	Threnetes ruckeri		from southeastern Guatemala and Belize to western Ecuador and western Venezuela

The supposed "black barbthroats", described as T. grzimeki, are actually juvenile males of the rufous-breasted hermit (Glaucis hirsuta).

Notes and References

1. Book: Gould, John . John Gould . 1852 . A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds . 1 . London . self . Plates 13, 15 and text (Part 4 Plates 14, 15) . The 5 volumes were issued in 25 parts between 1849 and 1861. Title pages of all volumes bear the date of 1861.
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 385 .
3. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1945 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 5 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 5–6 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . July 2020 . Hummingbirds . IOC World Bird List Version 10.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 8 January 2020 .