Long-tailed Sylph vs Red-shanked Bumblebee

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Bombus ruderarius

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while Red-shanked Bumblebee is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Red-shanked Bumblebee
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)
Family	Trochilidae	Apidae (Bees)
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Bombus
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Bombus ruderarius

Evolutionary Relationship

Long-tailed Sylph and Red-shanked Bumblebee share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Red-shanked Bumblebee

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Red-shanked Bumblebee
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.

Red-shanked Bumblebee

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden. 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.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 1 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway