Beach Sunflower vs Long-tailed Sylph

Helianthus debilis compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Key Differences

Beach Sunflower is Not Evaluated while Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Beach Sunflower	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Trochilidae
Genus	Helianthus (Sunflowers)	Aglaiocercus
Species	Helianthus debilis	Aglaiocercus kingii

Conservation Status

Beach Sunflower

NE — Not Evaluated

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Beach Sunflower	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Beach Sunflower

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (South Africa), Asia (India, South Korea), Europe (9 countries), North America (United States), and Oceania and the Pacific (Australia).

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Beach Sunflower

The Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis) is a species in the genus Helianthus. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

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.