Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) [XC815312]
by Manuel Grosselet from Praia de Massambaba, Araruama, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (call)
Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) [XC402360]
by Ricardo Gagliardi from Posada Andrea Christina Heredia Province, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui Costa Rica, Costa Rica (call)
Subspecies
This genus and Dacnis were previously regarded as members of a separate family, Coerebidae, but later placed in present family on basis of similarities in skull anatomy. Molecular phylogenies indicate that the two genera are sisters and form a monophyletic group with Tersina. Possible species status of subspecies holti may merit investigation because of its geographical isolation. Geographical variation slight, and some subspecies may not warrant recognition.
Proposed subspecies ramdseni (described from Cuba, where probably introduced), subsumed into nominate.
The following 11 subspecies are recognised:
carneipes (Sclater, PL, 1860) - South-eastern Mexico (from San Luis Potosí on Gulf slope and Oaxaca on Pacific slope) south, including Cozumel I (off north-eastern Quintana Roo) to Panama, including Coiba I and Pearl Is, and north-western Colombia (upper Sinú Valley, at northern end of western Andes, in Córdoba).
gemmeus Wetmore, 1941 - Serranía de Macuira (Guajira Peninsula), in northern Colombia.
eximius (Cabanis, 1850) - Northern Colombia (Santa Marta region, Sierra de Perijá, and western slope of eastern Andes in Santander) and western and northern Venezuela (western Zulia, base of both slopes of Andes, mountains of northern Falcón and Yaracuy, and coastal cordillera from Carabobo east to Sucre). Also Margarita I.
cyaneus (Linnaeus, 1766) - Eastern Venezuela (Monagas, Delta Amacuro and Bolívar east of R Caura); Trinidad; the Guianas and north-western Brazil (south to R Negro and mouth of R Amazon).
tobagensis Hellmayr & Seilern, 1914 - Tobago I.
pacificus Chapman, 1915 - Western Colombia (Pacific coast southern from Baudó Mts) and western Ecuador (south to Pichincha).
gigas Thayer & Bangs, 1905 - Gorgona I, off western Colombia.
brevipes (Cabanis, 1850) - Middle and lower R Amazon from at least Manacapurú east to middle R Tocantins.
dispar Zimmer, JT, 1942 - Colombia east of Andes (from Meta and R Negro-R Guainía region) east to south-western Venezuela (Amazonas), north-western Brazil (east to R Negro and R Juruá), eastern Ecuador (rare), and north-eastern Peru (south to Yarinacocha).
violaceus Zimmer, JT, 1942 - South-eastern Peru, northern Bolivia, and western Brazil (east to Mato Grosso).
holti Parkes, 1977 - Coastal eastern Brazil from Alagoas south to Rio de Janeiro.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet