science

Trochilinae

Trochilinae 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 Trochilinae rather than just read about it. In short: Trochilinae is one of the six subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The subfamily is divided into three tribes: Lampornithini (mountain gems) containing 18 species, Mellisugini (bees) containing 37 species and Trochilini (emeralds) containing 115 species.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Trochilinae is one of the six subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The subfamily is divided into three tribes: Lampornithini (mountain gems) containing 18 species, Mellisugini (bees) containing 37 species and Trochilini (emeralds) containing 115 species.

Phylogeny The hummingbirds were formerly divided into two subfamilies, the hermits (Phaethornithinae) and the nonhermits (Trochilinae). The results from a 2007 DNA hybridization study suggested that the hermits were basal to the rest of the family. A molecular phylogenetic study of the hummingbirds published in 2007 found that the family consisted of nine 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 divided the hummingbird family into six subfamilies based on the molecular results and redefined the subfamily Trochilinae to contain three clades, each of which they placed in a separate tribe: Lampornithini (mountain gems), Mellisugini (bees) and Trochilini (emeralds). A comprehensive phylogenetic study that sampled 284 hummingbird species was published in 2014. It confirmed the nine clades found in the earlier study but found that the hermits were sister to the topazes clade (subfamily Florisuginae) containing the genera Topaza and Florisuga. Many of the traditional genera in the emerald clade (Trochilini) were shown to be polyphyletic. As a result, many of the genera in this part of the tree have been revised.

The above cladogram of the hummingbird family is based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Jimmy McGuire and collaborators published in 2014. The Latin names are those proposed by Dickinson and Remsen in 2013.

References

Sources

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Trochilinae

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

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

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Trochilinae” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Trochilinae in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Trochilinae in simple terms?

Why does Trochilinae 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 Trochilinae?

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 Trochilinae.