About Calliphlox mitchellii (Bourcier, 1847)
Taxonomic Naming and Size
The purple-throated woodstar (Calliphlox mitchellii) measures 6.8 to 7.5 cm (2.7 to 3.0 in) long and weighs 3.0 to 3.3 g (0.11 to 0.12 oz).
Shared Morphological Features
Both sexes share a short, straight, black bill, and dusky bronze-green upperparts with a white patch on either side of the rump.
Facial Markings
Males have a small white spot behind the eye, while females have a downward-curved white line in the same spot.
Male Gorget and Breast Coloration
The male's gorget is shining violet-purple with a white band below it. The male's lower breast is dusky bronze, and its belly and flanks are rufous.
Male Tail Structure
It has a forked, brownish purple tail.
Female Underpart Coloration
The female has a buffy white throat with dusky speckles along the side, a white band below the throat, a green lower breast, and a rufous belly.
Female Tail Structure
Its central tail feathers are bronze-green, and the rest are cinnamon with a black band near the tip.
Distribution Range
This species is found discontinuously across eastern Panama's Darién Province, along both slopes of Colombia's western Andes extending south to central Ecuador, and in southern Ecuador.
Habitat
It inhabits the edges and interior of humid forest and cloudforest.
Elevation Range
Its elevation range spans from sea level to 2,400 m (7,900 ft), and it is most numerous at elevations above 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
