Big Pine Key Prickly-pear vs Long-tailed Sylph

Opuntia triacantha compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Key Differences

• Big Pine Key Prickly-pear is Near Threatened while Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Big Pine Key Prickly-pear	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Caryophyllales (Caryophyllales)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Cactaceae	Trochilidae
Genus	Opuntia	Aglaiocercus
Species	Opuntia triacantha	Aglaiocercus kingii

Conservation Status

Big Pine Key Prickly-pear

NT — Near Threatened

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Big Pine Key Prickly-pear	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Big Pine Key Prickly-pear

Habitat

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

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Big Pine Key Prickly-pear

The Big Pine Key Prickly-pear (Opuntia triacantha) is a species in the genus Opuntia. It is currently classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

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.