Eupetomena Explained

Eupetomena is a genus in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. It contains two species which are both found in eastern South America.

Taxonomy

The genus Eupetomena was introduced in 1853 by the English ornithologist John Gould to accommodate a single species, the swallow-tailed hummingbird which therefore becomes the type species.^[1] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek eu (εὐ-) meaning "good" and the neuter participle petomena (πετόμενα) meaning "always on thewing" or "flying" (from petomai, πέτομαι, "to fly").^[2] Literally, it can mean "the one that flies well, good flyer" (εὐπετόμενα).

The genus contains two species:^[3]

The sombre hummingbird was formerly placed in the genus Aphantochroa but based primarily on a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014, Aphantochroa has been merged into Eupetomena.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Gould, John . John Gould . 1853 . A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-Birds . 2 . London . self . Plate 42 and text (Part 6 Plate 1) . 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 . 152 .
3. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2022 . Hummingbirds . IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 13 July 2022 .
4. McGuire . J. . Witt . C. . Remsen . J.V. . Corl . A. . Rabosky . D. . Altshuler . D. . Dudley . R. . 2014 . Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds . Current Biology . 24 . 8 . 910–916 . 10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016 . free . 24704078 . 2014CBio...24..910M .
5. Stiles . F.G. . Remsen . J.V. Jr. . Mcguire . J.A. . 2017 . The generic classification of the Trochilini (Aves: Trochilidae): Reconciling taxonomy with phylogeny . Zootaxa . 4353 . 3 . 401–424 . 10.11646/zootaxa.4353.3 . 29245495 .