Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem

Common name: Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem
Scientific name: Lampornis amethystinus
Clades: Lampornithini - Mountain-gems

The Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem is 11.5 to 12.5 cm (4.5 to 4.9 in) long. Males weigh 5 to 7.8 g (0.18 to 0.28 oz) and females 5 to 5.8 g (0.18 to 0.20 oz).

This is a rather large hummingbird that lives in humid evergreen forests and pine-oak forests in the mountains. The species is fairly common in the shady understory and at edges, where it feeds on flowers at all levels. Though it has an exciting name, its appearance can be rather drab and grayish with a dark mask, whitish eyestripe, and dusky throat (the amethyst gorget rarely catches the light). The tail has a blackish color with pale gray corners.

5 subspecies:

Amethyst-throated

1. L. a. amethystinus
   Distribution mountains of C and E Mexico (S Nuevo León and S Tamaulipas to Veracruz and N Oaxaca).

2. L. a. circumventus
   Distribution southern Mexico (western Sierra de Miahuatlán, in southwestern Oaxaca)

3. L. a. salvin
   Distribution highlands of S Mexico (Chiapas), Guatemala and El Salvador.

4. L. a. nobilis
   Distribution highlands of Honduras.

5. L. a. margaritae (Violet-throated)
   Distribution SW Mexico (Nayarit and Jalisco to Michoacán and W Oaxaca).