Long-tailed Sylph vs Tape grass

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Vallisneria spiralis

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Tape grass
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Alismatales (Alismatales)
Family	Trochilidae	Hydrocharitaceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Vallisneria
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Vallisneria spiralis

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Tape grass

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Tape grass
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.

Tape grass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Egypt, Mauritius, South Africa), Asia (5 countries), Europe (23 countries), North America (Canada, Jamaica, United States), and Oceania and the Pacific (New Zealand).

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