The Bogotá sunangel (Heliangelus zusii) is a species of hummingbird that is only known from one specimen. The hummingbird is a bright purple with black flight feathers and a bright green chin and crown. This bird has only been found in Colombia and is assumed to live in cloud forest between 1200 and 3400 meters. Most of its potential habitat is degraded, though it is feasible that a population may still exist.
| Bogotá sunangel | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Genus: | Heliangelus |
| Species: | H. zusii
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| Binomial name | |
| Heliangelus zusii Graves, 1993
| |
This hummingbird is known from a single skin purchased in Bogotá in 1909. Nothing more is known of the bird, and though the skin is most commonly thought to come from either the Eastern or Central Andes of Colombia, other specimens from Bogotá have come from as far away as Ecuador. Since the bird has not been seen alive, it is assumed to have a relict population if it still survives. Some have suggested that the bird is just a hybrid, though the skin is very distinct.
Phylogenetic analyses place H. zusii as sister to a clade of mid -to high- elevation Andean species currently placed in the genera Taphrolesbia and Aglaiocercus (but outside the genus Heliangelus).[1]
After the discovery of a hummingbird hybrid at Rogitama in 2011 which shows similarities to the Bogotá sunangel[2] it has been shown that the Bogotá sunangel might be a hybrid between Aglaiocercus kingii and a yet undetermined species.[3]
In 2017, the IOC lumped this bird with the long-tailed sylph, following the taxonomy of Pérez-Emán et al. 2017 and Kirchman et al. 2010 that it was a hybrid. Other taxonomic authorities, such as the American Ornithological Society, have continued to recognize the species.
References
edit- ^ Kirchman, J. J., Witt, C. C., McGuire, J. A. and Graves, G. R. 2009. DNA from a 100-year-old holotype confirms the validity of a potentially extinct hummingbird species. Biology Letters (2010) 6: 112-115, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0545
- ^ James Currie on Rogitama Hummingbird in Colombia: Lost Relic or No?
- ^ Pérez-Emán, Jorge L.; Ferreira, Jhoniel Perdigón; Gutiérrez-Pinto, Natalia; Cuervo, Andrés M.; Céspedes, Laura N.; et al. (2018-07-02). "An extinct hummingbird species that never was: a cautionary tale about sampling issues in molecular phylogenetics". Zootaxa. 4442 (3). Magnolia Press: 491–497. bioRxiv 10.1101/149898. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4442.3.11. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 30313979. S2CID 10025994.
- BirdLife International (2007) Species factsheet: Heliangelus zusii. Downloaded from https://web.archive.org/web/20070710124603/http://www.birdlife.org/ on 11/8/2007
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