Clifton's Anguloa vs Green-fronted Lancebill

Anguloa cliftonii compared with Doryfera ludovicae

Key Differences

• Clifton's Anguloa is Critically Endangered while Green-fronted Lancebill is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Clifton's Anguloa	Green-fronted Lancebill
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Asparagales (Asparagales)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Orchidaceae	Trochilidae
Genus	Anguloa	Doryfera
Species	Anguloa cliftonii	Doryfera ludovicae

Conservation Status

Clifton's Anguloa

CR — Critically Endangered

Green-fronted Lancebill

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Clifton's Anguloa	Green-fronted Lancebill
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Clifton's Anguloa

Habitat

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

Green-fronted Lancebill

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Clifton's Anguloa

Clifton's Anguloa, Anguloa cliftonii, is a striking terrestrial orchid in the family Orchidaceae native to the cloud forests of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The genus Anguloa, known as cradle orchids or tulip orchids, is celebrated among orchid enthusiasts for its large, tulip-shaped, waxy flowers that rock gently when moved, simulating the movement of a bee—a presumed pollination adaptation. The flowers of Anguloa cliftonii are creamy white to pale yellow, often with pink or rose spotting, and are produced singly on erect peduncles arising from the base of large, pleated pseudobulbs. The plant is a cool-growing epiphyte or lithophyte found in humid montane forest at elevations between approximately 1,500 and 2,500 meters in the Andes. Anguloa species are pollinated by male euglossine bees attracted to fragrant compounds. The cloud forest habitats of the Andes are among the world's most biodiverse ecosystems and simultaneously among the most threatened, subject to deforestation for agriculture, cattle ranching, and coca cultivation. Many Andean orchid species are also threatened by over-collection for the horticultural trade. Anguloa cliftonii is cultivated in specialist collections and is the subject of conservation concern in its native range.

Green-fronted Lancebill

A medium-sized hummingbird with a distinctively long, slightly upturned bill, green-fronted lancebills inhabit the mid-strata of humid montane cloud forest in the Andes from Costa Rica through Colombia and Ecuador to Bolivia at elevations of 1,000–2,400 meters. Their elongated bill is specialized for probing the long tubular flowers of Centropogon and other Andean bell-flowers inaccessible to shorter-billed hummingbirds. Males are glittering green throughout; females have white-spotted underparts. Listed as Least Concern.