Elegant Sunbird
Aethopyga duyvenbodei (Schlegel, 1871)
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 elegant sunbird (Aethopyga duyvenbodei) is a large, up to 12 cm long, Australasian sunbird in the genus Aethopyga. The male has an iridescent blue-green crown, shoulder patch and uppertail coverts, yellow bar across lower back, red ear coverts, olive back, yellow throat, red neck collar and yellow below. The female has a yellowish olive upperparts, scaly crown and yellow underparts.
The scientific name commemorates Maarten Dirk van Renesse van Duivenbode (1804–1878), Dutch trader of naturalia on Ternate.
An Indonesian endemic, the elegant sunbird is distributed to the island of Sangihe, north of Sulawesi. It is found and locally common in the forests and plantations near Mount Sahendaruman in southern Sangihe.
Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size and limited range, the elegant sunbird is evaluated as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Wikipedia contributors, Elegant sunbird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:45:00.564652+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Aethopyga duyvenbodei (Schlegel, 1871)
- Name authority
- (Schlegel, 1871)
- Common name
- Elegant 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyNectariniidae Vigors, 1825
- genusAethopyga Cabanis, 1850
- speciesAethopyga duyvenbodei (Schlegel, 1871)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Aethopyga. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Fire-tailed SunbirdAethopyga ignicauda (Hodgson, 1836) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Metallic-winged SunbirdAethopyga pulcherrima Sharpe, 1876 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aethopyga primigenia (Hachisuka, 1941) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Apo SunbirdAethopyga boltoni Mearns, 1905 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aethopyga guimarasensis (Steere, 1890) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aethopyga bella Tweeddale, 1877 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fork-tailed SunbirdAethopyga christinae Swinhoe, 1869 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lovely SunbirdAethopyga shelleyi Sharpe, 1876 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aethopyga temminckii (S. Muller, 1843) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aethopyga tibolii Kennedy, Gonzales & Miranda, 1997 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aethopyga jefferyi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1894) | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lina's SunbirdAethopyga linaraborae Kennedy, Gonzales & Miranda, 1997 | NectariniidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
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=558454 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:65CBV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.