Long-tailed Sylph vs Starfruit

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Damasonium alisma

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while Starfruit is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Starfruit
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Alismatales (Alismatales)
Family	Trochilidae	Alismataceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Damasonium
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Damasonium alisma

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Starfruit

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Starfruit
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.

Starfruit

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including deserts and xeric shrublands, flooded grasslands and savannas, and Mediterranean forests and woodlands within the Palearctic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Egypt and Portugal. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

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.