Family: Trochilidae
Description
Hummingbirds as currently understood is a family entirely limited to the Americas. Two fossils from Germany hint that may not always have been the case, as these fossils show very hummingbird-like birds from more than 30 million years ago in Germany, Europe1.
Hummingbirds all have five pairs of tail feathers (rectrices). The tail tends to be disproportionately larger in large species, and the variation in shape is largest in small species; therefore, strongly forked tails are almost only seen in small species, but other small species show a graduated tail..
Hummingbirds generally have sexual roles where the males provide no incubation or care for nestlings. In agreement with this division, most species are sexually dimorphic with the males much more ornamental than the females.
Taxonomy
Trochilidae is a Family in the Order Caprimulgiformes.
References
- A paper in Science-news describing the German hummingbird fossils
- Paper discussing hummingbird evolution and especially their tails.
External Links
Subcategories
This category has the following 118 subcategories, out of 118 total.
