Vervain Hummingbird

Mellisuga minima (Linnaeus, 1758)

Spanish: Colibrí Zumbadorcito

The Vervain Hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) is a hummingbird in the subfamily Trochilinae (mountain gems, bees and emeralds), tribe Mellisugini (bees). It weighs about 2.4 g and its bill is 11.2 mm long. It lives in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti and Puerto Rico. Its IUCN Red List status is Least concern, with a decreasing population.

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At a glance

Weight

2.4 g, about 2 paperclips

Bill

11.2 mm

Lives in

Gardens & towns

Moves

Stays put all year

Red List status

Least concern, decreasing

Its place in the family

1. Family Trochilidae hummingbirds
2. Subfamily Trochilinae mountain gems, bees and emeralds
3. Tribe Mellisugini bees
4. Genus Mellisuga

What Mellisuga share: Includes the Bee Hummingbird of Cuba, the smallest bird in the world: a male is about 5.5 cm long and weighs about 2 g. (In the weights this site uses, the Peruvian Sheartail comes out a little lighter.)

Where it lives · 4 countries

• Dominican Republic
• Jamaica
• Haiti
• Puerto Rico

Others in the genus Mellisuga

• Bee Hummingbird Mellisuga helenae

Sources

Names: eBird/Clements Checklist (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Groups: Dickinson & Remsen (2013) and McGuire et al. (2014). Weight, bill, habitat and movement: AVONET (Tobias et al. 2022, CC BY 4.0). Countries: BirdLife International DataZone, checked against eBird records via GBIF. Red List status and trend: BirdLife International, the IUCN Red List authority for birds.

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