Chaetocercus is a genus of hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae.
Taxonomy
The genus Chaetocercus was introduced in 1855 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray with the rufous-shafted woodstar as the type species.[1][2] The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek words khaitē, meaning “hair” and kerkos, meaning “tail”.[3]
The species, except for the rufous-shafted woodstar, were formerly placed in the genus Acestrura.[4] In 1999 Karl-Ludwig Schuchmann remarked in the Handbook of the Birds of the World that for the species placed in Acestrura: “…no evidence in external morphology justifies treatment in a genus separate from C. jourdanii“.[5] Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the genus Chaetocercus is sister to the slender-tailed woodstar that is placed in its own genus Microstilbon.[6][7]
The genus contains six species:[8]
| Male | Female | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
White-bellied woodstar | Chaetocercus mulsant | 
|
 |
 |
Little woodstar | Chaetocercus bombus | 
|
 |
 |
Gorgeted woodstar | Chaetocercus heliodor | 
|
 |
 |
Santa Marta woodstar | Chaetocercus astreans | 
|
 |
Esmeraldas woodstar | Chaetocercus berlepschi | 
| |
| Rufous-shafted woodstar | Chaetocercus jourdanii | 
|
References
- ^ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 22.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 140.
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 139.
- ^ Schuchmann, K.L. (1999). “Genus Chaetocercus“. In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. p. 677. ISBN 978-84-87334-25-2.
- ^ 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. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016.
- ^ Licona-Vera, Yuyini; Ornelas, Juan Francisco (2017). “The conquering of North America: dated phylogenetic and biogeographic inference of migratory behavior in bee hummingbirds”. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (1): 126. Bibcode:2017BMCEE..17..126L. doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0980-5. PMC 5460336.
- ^ AviList Core Team (2025). “AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025”. doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
