Doricha

Doricha
Female Mexican sheartail, Doricha eliza
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Tribe: Mellisugini
Genus: Doricha
Reichenbach, 1854
Type species
Trochilus enicurus (slender sheartail)
Vieillot, 1818

Doricha is a genus of hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae that are found in Central America.

Taxonomy

The genus Doricha was introduced in 1854 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach to accommodate the slender sheartail which is thus the type species. The genus name comes from an ancient Greek courtesan.

A 2014 molecular phylogenetic study by Jimmy McGuire and collaborators found that the genus Doricha was sister to the genus Calothorax.

The genus contains the following two species:

MaleFemaleCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Slender sheartailDoricha enicura
Mexican sheartailDoricha eliza

References

  1. ↑ Reichenbach, Ludwig (1854). "Aufzählung der Colibris Oder Trochilideen in ihrer wahren natürlichen Verwandtschaft, nebst Schlüssel ihrer Synonymik". Journal für Ornithologie (Supplement) (in German). 1: 1–24 [12].
  2. ↑ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 132–133.
  3. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ↑ McGuire, J.; Witt, C.; Remsen, J.V.; Corl, A.; Rabosky, D.; Altshuler, D.; Dudley, R. (2014). "Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds". Current Biology. 24 (8): 910–916. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016. PMID 24704078.
  5. ↑ AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 21 April 2026.