Long-tailed Sylph vs Madwoman'S Milk

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Euphorbia helioscopia

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Madwoman'S Milk
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Malpighiales (Malpighiales)
Family	Trochilidae	Euphorbiaceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Euphorbia
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Euphorbia helioscopia

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Madwoman'S Milk

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Madwoman'S Milk
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Madwoman'S Milk

Habitat

Inhabits flooded grasslands and savannas and deserts and xeric shrublands within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Namibia, South Africa), Asia (China, Taiwan, Uzbekistan), Europe (17 countries), North America (Canada, Mexico, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia), and South America (Chile).

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.