science

Lesbiini

Lesbiini is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lesbiini rather than just read about it. In short: Lesbiini is one of the two tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other tribe is Heliantheini (brilliants).

Key takeaways

Lesbiini belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lesbiini to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lesbiini from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lesbiini is one of the two tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other tribe is Heliantheini (brilliants). The informal name "coquettes" has been proposed for this group as the largest genus, Lophornis, has 11 species with "coquette" in their common name. The tribe contains 67 species divided into 18 genera.

Phylogeny A molecular phylogenetic study of the hummingbirds published in 2007 found that the family was composed of nine major clades. When Edward Dickinson and James Van Remsen, Jr. updated the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World for the 4th edition in 2013 they based their classification on these results and placed two of the nine clades in a new subfamily Lesbiinae. Each clade formed a separate tribe which they named Lesbinii and Heliantheini. The subfamily Lesbiinae had been introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1854.

Cladograms Molecular phylogenetic studies by Jimmy McGuire and collaborators published between 2007 and 2014 determined the relationships between the major groups of hummingbirds. In the cladogram below the English names are those introduced in 1997. The Latin names are those proposed by Dickinson and Remsen in 2013.

The 2014 study also determined the relationships between the genera within the Lesbiini.

Taxonomic list The tribe contains 18 genera.

References

Sources

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lesbiini

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lesbiini claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lesbiini before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lesbiini ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lesbiini

In research: Lesbiini appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lesbiini in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lesbiini is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bird tribes, Hummingbirds, Lesbiini, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lesbiini outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lesbiini in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lesbiini means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lesbiini out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lesbiini in simple terms?

Lesbiini is one of the two tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other tribe is Heliantheini (brilliants).

Why does Lesbiini matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lesbiini?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lesbiini.