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Taxonomic note

Molecular research by Campillo et al. (2018) established that the anomalous Purple-naped Sunbird (formerly Hypogramma hypogrammica) is sister to all members of the genus Arachnothera (to which it was transferred, following an earlier molecular paper, in the Checklist under the name Purple-naped Spiderhunter, A. hypogrammica (del Hoyo and Collar 2016).

It would still be legitimate to extend Arachnothera to cover the species, but given its distinctiveness (metallic plumage, unique tongue structure) Campillo et al. favoured its treatment in a separate genus, for which they continue to use Hypogramma. However, the Checklist (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) pointed out that Hypogramma is preoccupied and that an alternative generic name, Kurochkinegramma (Kashin,1978), had been proposed. This name is accepted here, with the English name reverting to Purple-naped Sunbird.

Previously the taxon was placed in the genus Hypogramma and listed as H. hypogrammicum following Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2020. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 5. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip.

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be uncommon to common (Cheke et al. 2001). This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 16.5% within its mapped range over the past 10 years (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it is tentatively suspected that this loss of cover may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame.

Trend justification:   .

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Purple-naped Spiderhunter Kurochkinegramma hypogrammica. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/purple-naped-spiderhunter-kurochkinegramma-hypogrammica on 23/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/12/2024.