Geographic Variation
Two subspecies are recognized for Dacnis venusta (Dickinson and Christidis 2014, Clements et al. 2015).
venusta, described as Dacnis venusta Lawrence 1862
Type Locality: Panama Railroad, Panama
It is distributed in the tropical zone on both slopes in Costa Rica and western Panama near Chiriqui (Storer 1970, Clements et al. 2015). See Detailed Description.
fuliginata, described as Dacnis venusta fuliginata Bangs, 1908 Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 21: 160
Type Locality: Jiménez, western Colombia
This subspecies is endemic to the Chocó and Nechí Centers of Endemism (Cracraft 1985). It is fairly common in Panama in the lowlands and foothills of eastern Caribbean slope of San Blas and Darién, through western Colombia, to northwestern Ecuador (Storer 1970, Wetmore et al. 1984, Clements et al. 2015). It is similar to nominate venusta, but has deeper sooty black underparts and lacks conspicuous green hues, or the greenish tinge is restricted to the belly (Hellmayr 1911, Wetmore et al. 1984). This subspecies is smaller than the Central American nominate subspecies, especially in bill length, alhough measurements are more similar where these subspecies meet in southern Panama (Hellmayr 1911). Measurements for this subspecies are reported in Table 1 below, and measurements for the nominate subspecies are reported in the table in Measurements.
n and Sex | Wing (mm) | Tail (mm) | Bill (mm) | Tarsus (mm) | Source |
1 Male | 62 | 39 | 11 | - | Hellmayr |
1 Male | 64.5 | 40.5 | 10 | - | Hellmayr |
1 Male | 65 | 41 | 11 | - | Hellmayr |
1 Male | 63 | 40 | 10.5 | - | Hellmayr |
1 Male | 63 | 40.5 | 10 | - | Hellmayr |
1 Female | 64 | 42 | 11 | - | Hellmayr |
10 males | 58.2-67.0 (63.4) | 37.7-45.4 (41.4) | 10.9-13.4 (12.3) | 13.8-14.8 (14.4) | Wetmore |
10 females | 57.0-64.8 (61.7) | 34.5-43.3 (39.7) | 11.1-14.3 (12.9) | 13.8-15.8 (14.5) | Wetmore |