Bladder Fern vs Long-tailed Sylph

Cystopteris fragilis compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Key Differences

• Bladder Fern is Not Evaluated while Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bladder Fern	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Polypodiales (Polypodiales)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Cystopteridaceae	Trochilidae
Genus	Cystopteris	Aglaiocercus
Species	Cystopteris fragilis	Aglaiocercus kingii

Conservation Status

Bladder Fern

NE — Not Evaluated

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bladder Fern	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bladder Fern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (6 countries), North America (Canada, United States), and South America (Colombia).

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Bladder Fern

The Bladder Fern (Cystopteris fragilis) is a species in the genus Cystopteris. Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

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.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇳🇴 Norway