Long-tailed Sylph vs Tacarcuna Tapaculo

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Scytalopus panamensis

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while Tacarcuna Tapaculo is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Tacarcuna Tapaculo
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Aves (Birds)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Passeriformes (Songbirds)
Family	Trochilidae	Rhinocryptidae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Scytalopus
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Scytalopus panamensis

Evolutionary Relationship

Long-tailed Sylph and Tacarcuna Tapaculo share a common ancestor at the Class level: Aves. (Birds)

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Tacarcuna Tapaculo

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Tacarcuna Tapaculo
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.

Tacarcuna Tapaculo

Habitat

Inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests within the Neotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Norway, and Panama. 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.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇳🇴 Norway