Fork-tailed Sunbird
Aethopyga christinae Swinhoe, 1869
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 fork-tailed sunbird (Aethopyga christinae) is a bird in the family Nectariniidae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1869.
It is found in China, Hong Kong, Laos, and Vietnam.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. These small birds, with decurved bill, call a soft and frequent "zwink-zwink" and a metallic trill. The bird appears in the most commonly used postal stamp of Hong Kong.
Wikipedia contributors, Fork-tailed sunbird; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:37:34.927608+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Aethopyga christinae Swinhoe, 1869
- Name authority
- Swinhoe, 1869
- Common name
- Fork-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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyNectariniidae Vigors, 1825
- genusAethopyga Cabanis, 1850
- speciesAethopyga christinae Swinhoe, 1869
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 |
| Elegant SunbirdAethopyga duyvenbodei (Schlegel, 1871) | 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 |
| 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=558453 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:65CC9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.