NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Blue-tailed Emerald
Chlorostilbon mellisugus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The blue-tailed emerald (Chlorostilbon mellisugus) is a hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in tropical and subtropical South America east of the Andes from Colombia east to the Guianas and Trinidad, and south to northern Bolivia and central Brazil.
Wikipedia contributors, Blue-tailed emerald; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:37:02.931706+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Chlorostilbon mellisugus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- Blue-tailed Emerald
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Chlorostilbon
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderApodiformes
- familyTrochilidae
- subfamilyTrochilinae
- genusChlorostilbon Gould, 1853
- speciesChlorostilbon mellisugus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Chlorostilbon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Garden EmeraldChlorostilbon assimilis Lawrence, 1861 | TrochilidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Short-tailed EmeraldChlorostilbon poortmani (Bourcier, 1843) | TrochilidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Glittering-bellied EmeraldChlorostilbon lucidus (Shaw, 1812) | TrochilidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Coppery EmeraldChlorostilbon russatus (Salvin & Godman, 1881) | TrochilidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chiribiquete EmeraldChlorostilbon olivaresi Stiles, 1996 | TrochilidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Narrow-tailed EmeraldChlorostilbon stenurus (Cabanis & Heine, 1860) | TrochilidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Green-tailed EmeraldChlorostilbon alice (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1848) | TrochilidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Trochilus mellisugus Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
South America
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=555110 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:5XYV5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.