Bumblebee Hummingbird (Atthis heloisa) [XC775969]
by id from Omiltemi, Chilpancingo de los Bravo, Guerrero, Mexico (call, wing whirr)
Bumblebee Hummingbird (Atthis heloisa) [XC349490]
by Frank Lambert from Cerro Pel\u00f3n, Estado de M\u00e9xico, Mexico (song, flight display)
Subspecies
Genus probably closely related to Selasphorus, and sometimes merged into it. Forms a superspecies with Wine-throated Hummingbird (Atthis ellioti), with which has been considered conspecific. However, they differ in courtship behaviour, song structure, wing morphology, and coloration, and thus merit treatment as separate species.
Proposed subspecies morcomi, known by two old specimens from south-eastern Arizona, is synonym of nominate and presumably based on vagrants, or mislabelled specimens.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
margarethae Moore, RT, 1937 - Highlands of north-western and western Mexico (south-eastern Sinaloa and south-western Chihuahua to Jalisco).
heloisa (Lesson & DeLattre, 1839) - Highlands of north-east, central and southern Mexico (central Tamaulipas to Guerrero and Oaxaca).