Anthracothorax prevostii (R.Lesson, 1832)

Common Name and Size

Anthracothorax prevostii, commonly called the green-breasted mango, measures 10.3 to 12.1 cm (4.1 to 4.8 in) in length and weighs 5.7 to 7.0 g (0.20 to 0.25 oz). All subspecies of both sexes have a slightly decurved dull black bill.

Nominate Male Upperparts

Adult males of the nominate subspecies A. p. prevostii have metallic bronze green crowns, napes, and upperparts. Their innermost pair of tail feathers are dull dusky bronze green to dull coppery bronze, while the outer four pairs are shades of purple with a metallic gloss.

Nominate Male Wing and Underparts

Their wings are dusky brownish slate. They have a velvety black stripe running down their chin, throat, and chest, with metallic bluish green along the sides of this stripe.

Nominate Male Flanks and Undertail Coverts

Their sides and flanks are bronze green, and their undertail coverts are dusky purple.

Nominate Female Upperparts

Nominate females have less bronzy metallic green on their crowns, napes, and upperparts than males. Their innermost pair of tail feathers match the male’s dull dusky bronze green to dull coppery bronze coloring, but their outer four pairs are blue-black with a wide purple base and whitish tips.

Nominate Female Underparts

They share the male’s velvety black chin and throat stripe, but this stripe becomes bluish green on the breast and dusky on the belly, and is edged with white. The rest of their underparts are metallic green, except for dusky undertail coverts that have wide white edges.

Juvenile Plumage

Juveniles are similar to adult females, but have a white chin, throat, and center of the breast with some chestnut coloring beside this white area.

Subspecies A. p. gracilirostris Features

Subspecies A. p. gracilirostris has a shorter and thinner bill than the nominate subspecies. Its upperparts and sides are less bronzy, its underside stripe is wider and bluish black, and its undertail coverts are darker than the nominate’s.

Subspecies A. p. hendersoni Features

A. p. hendersoni also has a shorter bill than the nominate. It has an ashy tinge on its crown and a longer, thinner bluish black stripe.

Subspecies A. p. viridicordatus Features

A. p. viridicordatus has bright grass green upperparts, olive green central tail feathers, and darker undertail coverts than the nominate.

Subspecies Distribution Overview

The four subspecies of green-breasted mango have the following distributions. A. p. prevostii is found from San Luis Potosí and southern Tamaulipas in Mexico south to Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador.

A. p. gracilirostris Distribution

A. p. gracilirostris ranges from El Salvador south through Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica into Bocas del Toro Province in northwestern Panama.

A. p. hendersoni Distribution

A. p. hendersoni is found on Providencia and San Andrés islands, which lie off the coast of Nicaragua but are part of Colombia.

A. p. viridicordatus Distribution

A. p. viridicordatus occurs in extreme northeastern Colombia and coastal Venezuela from the Guajira Peninsula to Sucre state.

Vagrant Records in the US

Many individuals of the nominate subspecies have wandered to the United States. Since 1988, there have been at least 25 records of the species in Texas.

Additional Vagrant Records

Single stray birds have been recorded in Cabarrus County, North Carolina in 2000; Rock County, Wisconsin in 2007; Laurens County, Georgia from 2007 into 2008; and Caddo Parish, Louisiana in 2009.

Habitat Types

The green-breasted mango lives in a variety of lowland tropical landscapes, most of which are semi-open to open. These habitats include shrublands with trees, savanna, secondary forest, gallery forest, mangroves, and the edges of denser forest.

Anthropogenic Habitats

It also occurs in cultivated areas, parks, gardens, and suburban and urban areas.

Elevation Range

In terms of elevation, it mainly occurs from sea level to 500 m (1,600 ft), but can be found locally as high as 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Central America.