Fire-tailed Sunbird

Open encyclopedia reference

The fire-tailed sunbird (Aethopyga ignicauda) is a species of sunbird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, primarily in the Himalayas, and also in some adjoining regions in Southeast Asia. The species occurs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Tibet. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Breeding males have a scarlet nape and mantle, and a yellow-orange breast and an olive-green belly. They develop a long scarlet tail, and including the tail are about 15 cm long; females are about two-thirds that length. Females have a grey-olive head and throat, and a yellow belly. Females are differentiated from the similar female green-tailed sunbird by a straighter bill, squarer tail (lacking white tips and with trace of brownish orange on the sides) and mor noticeable olive-yellow on the rump. Eclipse males are similar to females but have brighter yellow bellies, scarlet uppertail coverts, and scarlet tail sides.

Wikipedia contributors, Fire-tailed sunbird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:37:26.609364+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Aethopyga ignicauda (Hodgson, 1836)

Name authority

(Hodgson, 1836)

Common name

Fire-tailed Sunbird

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Nectariniidae

Genus

Aethopyga

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderPasseriformes
10. familyNectariniidae Vigors, 1825
11. genusAethopyga Cabanis, 1850
12. speciesAethopyga ignicauda (Hodgson, 1836)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Aethopyga. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 134 records assigned to Nectariniidae.

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.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=558458 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:65CBD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.