Letitia's thorntail

Appearance

Graves described the specimens of Letitia's thorntail, but noted that the perceived colors of hummingbirds depend on the lighting and the observer's angle of view. The crown is brilliant golden-green that blends to dark bronze-green on the back with some coppery-bronze iridescence. The lower back is crossed by a narrow white band below which is a coppery red to coppery purple rump and bronze-green uppertail coverts. The chin and upper breast are golden-green like the crown with a diffuse pale pectoral band below the latter. The midline of the lower breast is bronze-green with coppery red spangles. The lower belly and flanks are buffy- to grayish white, the vent is dark gray, and the undertail coverts dark green with rufous tips. One specimen lacks the central tail feathers; the other specimen's are bronze-green with broad black tips. The other tail feathers are brownish black. The tail feathers are progressively longer from the innermost to the outermost but the outermost are not as dramatically longer as in other thorntails.