Cinnyris lotenius (Linnaeus, 1766)
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.
Here one can see the maroon breast band. The adult male is mainly glossy purple with a grey-brown belly.
Swardeepak · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Loten's sunbird (Cinnyris lotenius), also known as the long-billed sunbird or maroon-breasted sunbird, is a sunbird endemic to peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Named after Joan Gideon Loten, who was the Dutch governor of colonial Ceylon, it is very similar to the purple sunbird that is found in the same areas and also tends to hover at flowers for nectar, but can be distinguished by the longer bill, the maroon band on the breast and brownish wings. Like other sunbirds, it is also insectivorous and builds characteristic hanging nests.
Wikipedia contributors, Loten's sunbird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T13:52:01.105798+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cinnyris lotenius (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Nectariniidae
- Genus
- Cinnyris
- 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
- orderPasseriformes
- familyNectariniidae Vigors, 1825
- genusCinnyris Cuvier, 1816
- speciesCinnyris lotenius (Linnaeus, 1766)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Cinnyris. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Cinnyris humbloti Milne-Edwards & Oustalet, 1885 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris manoensis Reichenow, 1907 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris congensis (Oort, 1910) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris sovimanga (Gmelin, 1788) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris usambaricus Grote, 1922 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris minullus Reichenow, 1899 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris neergaardi Grant, 1908 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris afer (Linnaeus, 1766) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Southern Double-collared SunbirdCinnyris chalybeus (Linnaeus, 1766) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Splendid SunbirdCinnyris coccinigastrus (Latham, 1802) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris johannae J. Verreaux & E. Verreaux, 1851 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnyris habessinicus (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Nectarinia lotenia (Linnaeus, 1766) (Linnaeus, 1766) | synonym |
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=916471 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.
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:5YV5D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.