science

Mellisugini

Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini rather than just read about it. In short: Mellisugini is one of the three tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Trochilini (emeralds).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Mellisugini is one of the three tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Trochilini (emeralds). The informal name "bees" has been proposed for this group as it includes the tiny bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) that is endemic to Cuba. The tribe contains 37 species divided into 16 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 three of the nine clades in the subfamily Trochilinae. The clades were placed in separate tribes which they named Mellisugini (bees), Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Trochilini (emeralds). The tribe Mellisugini with the current circumscription was introduced in 2009. A subfamily Mellisuginae had been introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1854. 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 cladogram below shows the relationships between the genera and is based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Yuyini Licona-Vera and Juan Francisco Ornelas published in 2017. The results are in agreement with the phylogeny by Jimmy McGuire and collaborators published in 2014.

The genus Calliphlox was found to be polyphyletic. As part of the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, the Bahama woodstar and the Inagua woodstar were moved to the resurrected genus Nesophlox. Later, the genus Philodice was resurrected to accommodate the purple-throated woodstar and the amethyst woodstar. The genus Atthis containing the wine-throated hummingbird and the bumblebee hummingbird was embedded within Selasphorus. The genera were therefore merged and as under the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Selasphorus has priory over Atthis the two species were moved to Selasphorus.

Distinguishing features The males of most species in the tribe Mellisugini have specialized tail feathers that produce sounds during their courtship display. This is not restricted to this tribe as males in the genus Discosura belonging to the tribe Lesbiini (coquettes) can also produce sounds from their tail feathers. Most of the migratory hummingbirds are found in this tribe. Remarkable examples are the rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) that breeds as far north as western Canada and Alaska and overwinters in Mexico and the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) that breeds in the eastern United States and then crosses the Gulf of Mexico to winter in Mexico and Central America. There are five other long-distance migrants in the tribe: the broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus), the calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope), Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin), the black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) and the lucifer sheartail (Calothorax lucifer). It is likely that migratory behaviour has evolved several times.

Taxonomic list The tribe contains 17 genera.

References

Sources

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mellisugini

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini

In research: Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini 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: Mellisugini is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bird tribes, Hummingbirds, Mellisugini, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mellisugini in simple terms?

Why does Mellisugini 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 Mellisugini?

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 Mellisugini.