Other Scientific Names
Chlorestes notatus [BirdLife International (2004)], Chlorestes notatus [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)], Chlorestes notatus [Stotz et al. (1996)]
Other Names (World)
Blue-chinned Emerald, Blue-chinned Sapphire, Audebert's Hummingbird
Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorestes notata) [XC445977]
by Thieres Pinto from Caseara, State of Tocantins, Brazil (call)
Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorestes notata) [XC582908]
by GABRIEL LEITE from Roura, Beaus\u00e9jour, French Guiana (song)
Subspecies
Formerly placed in monospecific genus Chlorestes, but morphology and bioacoustics indicate that merging into Chlorostilbon is more appropriate. Author and year of scientific description of species have consistently been misquoted. Racial variation complex and possibly not constant and intermediate populations exist.
Birds of Brazil south of Amazon formerly awarded subspecies cyanogenys. Two highly doubtful forms known only from trade skins (one and two respectively) from Bahia: "Chlorostilbon subcaeruleus" is probably a hyperchromatic aberration of Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorostilbon notatus) and "Chlorostilbon hypocyaneus" may be a mutant of Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorostilbon notatus), or hybrid between Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorostilbon notatus) and White-chinned Sapphire (Hylocharis cyanus), or possibly even a valid species. Also, "Eucephala scapulata", known from single specimen from French Guiana, is probably a hybrid of Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorostilbon notatus) with Fork-tailed Woodnymph (Thalurania furcata).
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
notatus (G. C. Reich, 1793) - North-eastern Colombia through northern and eastern Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Guianas to eastern Brazil (Pará to Bahia).
puruensis (Riley, 1913) - North-western Brazil (north of Amazon, east to mouths of R Trombetas and R Negro) to south-eastern Colombia and north-eastern Peru (upper R Ucayali).
obsoleta (Zimmer, 1950) - North-eastern Peru on lower R Ucayali near mouth of R Napo, and western probably to mouth of R Huallaga.