About Calliphlox amethystina (Boddaert, 1783)
The amethyst woodstar (Calliphlox amethystina), described by Boddaert in 1783, measures 6 to 8.4 cm (2.4 to 3.3 in) in length and weighs 2.5 to 3.2 g (0.088 to 0.11 oz). Both sexes have a medium-length, straight, black bill. Their upperparts are dark bronzy green, with a large white spot on each side of the rump. Males have a small white spot behind the eye, while females have a thin white stripe there. Breeding-plumage males have an iridescent amethyst gorget with a whitish band below it. The rest of their underparts are greenish, with brownish lower flanks. Their deeply forked tail is purplish black, with green tips on the feathers. Non-breeding (eclipse) plumage males have a pale throat that bears some iridescent disks. Females have whitish underparts with a few green spangles on the throat, and rufous flanks and undertail coverts. Their tail is short and dull green, with a black band near the end and pale feather tips. The amethyst woodstar ranges from eastern Colombia, through Venezuela and the Guianas, into most of Brazil (excluding the main Amazon basin) extending south to extreme northeastern Argentina. From there, it ranges west and north into Paraguay, and through Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador to a small part of southern Colombia. It inhabits a wide variety of semi-open to open landscapes, including humid forest borders, forest clearings, savanna, and scrubby woodland. It avoids the interior of closed forest. It occurs at elevations between sea level and 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
