Long-tailed Sylph vs Wandflower

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Sparaxis tricolor

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while Wandflower is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Wandflower
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Asparagales (Asparagales)
Family	Trochilidae	Iridaceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Sparaxis
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Sparaxis tricolor

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Wandflower

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Wandflower
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.

Wandflower

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Australia, Portugal, Taiwan, and United States.

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.