Long-tailed Sylph vs Northern Spiderhead

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Serruria fucifolia

Key Differences

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

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Northern Spiderhead
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Proteales (Proteales)
Family	Trochilidae	Proteaceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Serruria
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Serruria fucifolia

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Northern Spiderhead

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Northern Spiderhead
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 Spiderhead

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

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.