Long-tailed Sylph vs Northern Raphia

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Raphia sudanica

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while Northern Raphia is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Northern Raphia
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Arecales (Arecales)
Family	Trochilidae	Arecaceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Raphia
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Raphia sudanica

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Northern Raphia

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Northern Raphia
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.

Northern Raphia

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 4 distinct biome types within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Cameroon and Guinea. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

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.