The great-billed hermit (Phaethornis malaris ) is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The great-billed hermit is 13 to 17.5 cm (5.1 to 6.9 in) long. Males weigh 4.5 to 10 g (0.16 to 0.35 oz) and females 4 to 8 g (0.14 to 0.28 oz). The nominate subspecies is the largest. It has greenish-brown upperparts and brownish to grayish underparts. Its uppertail coverts have dark and light ochre bands and the central tail feathers are long with long white tips. It has a long decurved bill, with the female's being shorter but more curved than the male's. P. m. insolitus is smaller than the nominate but otherwise similar. P. m. moorei has paler, grayer, underparts than the nominate. P. m. bolivianus and P. m. margarettae are the smallest subspecies. The former has a dark brown throat and breast and an orange-ochre belly; P. m. margarettae is very similar to bolivianus but has paler underparts. P. m. ochraceiventris has a bright orange breast and belly.
The subspecies of great-billed hermit are found thus:
The subspecies inhabit the understory of a variety of rainforest landscapes including terra firme, foothill, and higher elevation tropical forest; transitional forest; secondary forest; and bamboo thickets. P. m. ochraceiventris in addition is found in igapó forest. In most areas it is found below 600 m (2,000 ft) of elevation but occurs as high as 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Colombia and 2,400 m (7,900 ft) in Bolivia.
The great-billed hermit is a "trap-line" feeder like other hermit hummingbirds, visiting a circuit of a variety of flowering plants for nectar. Examples include Heliconia and Pitcairnia. It also consumes small arthropods.
The great-billed hermit's breeding seasons vary across its range, for instance at least August to December in French Guiana, June to September in Bolivia, and June to November in Peru. Like most hermits, it builds a cone-shaped nest of plant fibers and spider silk suspended from the underside of a drooping leaf. The clutch size is two eggs.
The IUCN has assessed the great-billed hermit as being of Least Concern, though its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. However, " margarettae, limited to forest remnants in Brazil, could be threatened by further habitat destruction."
