Floating Fern vs Long-tailed Sylph

Salvinia natans compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Key Differences

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

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Floating Fern	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Salviniales (Salviniales)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Salviniaceae	Trochilidae
Genus	Salvinia	Aglaiocercus
Species	Salvinia natans	Aglaiocercus kingii

Conservation Status

Floating Fern

NE — Not Evaluated

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

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

Habitat & Geographic Range

Floating Fern

Habitat

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

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (4 countries), Europe (9 countries), North America (Honduras), 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.

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 1 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway