Buttonhead Pipewort vs Long-tailed Sylph

Eriocaulon heterolepis compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Buttonhead Pipewort	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Poales (Grasses)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Eriocaulaceae	Trochilidae
Genus	Eriocaulon	Aglaiocercus
Species	Eriocaulon heterolepis	Aglaiocercus kingii

Conservation Status

Buttonhead Pipewort

LC — Least Concern

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Buttonhead Pipewort	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Buttonhead Pipewort

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Buttonhead Pipewort

The Buttonhead Pipewort (Eriocaulon heterolepis) is a species in the genus Eriocaulon. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

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.