Baby’s Tears vs Long-tailed Sylph

Lindernia rotundifolia compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Baby’s Tears	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Lamiales (Lamiales)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Linderniaceae	Trochilidae
Genus	Lindernia	Aglaiocercus
Species	Lindernia rotundifolia	Aglaiocercus kingii

Conservation Status

Baby’s Tears

LC — Least Concern

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Baby’s Tears	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Baby’s Tears

Habitat

Inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Brazil, Colombia, Mauritius, Mexico, and Taiwan.

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Baby’s Tears

The Baby’s Tears (Lindernia rotundifolia) is a species in the genus Lindernia. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Long-tailed Sylph

One of the most strikingly ornamented hummingbirds, male long-tailed sylphs have iridescent green plumage and dramatically elongated, ribbon-like outer tail feathers reaching up to 22 cm — over three times the body length. Found in Andean cloud forests of Colombia and Venezuela, they inhabit humid montane forest between 1,400–2,800 meters elevation. Males perform elaborate display flights to attract females. Their extravagant tails are a classic example of sexual selection via female preference.