Black-billed streamertail

Description

The black-billed streamertail (Trochilus scitulus) is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is endemic to eastern Jamaica. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of Trochilus polytmus. The streamertails are hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus, that are endemic to Jamaica. It is the type genus of the family Trochilidae. Today most authorities consider the two taxa in this genus as separate species, but some (e.g. AOU) continue to treat them as conspecific, in which case scitulus is a subspecies of T. polytmus. A wide range of common names apply to this combined species, including green-and-black streamertail, Jamaican streamertail or simply streamertail. The name streamertail is a reference to the greatly elongated rectrices of the males. The genus Trochilus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek τροχιλος/trokhilos, a small unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle. Later authors assumed the word referred to a wren. The type species was subsequently designated as the red-billed streamertail. In his Systema Naturae Linnaeus included 18 species of hummingbird all of which he placed in Trochilus. Today, 12 of these species are still recognised, but only the red-billed streamertail is retained in its original genus. Two species are now placed in the genus.