Aenigmatorhynchus rarus (Mayr and Smith 2025, SMF-ME 11857, Eocene, Europe) was described with an "unusual character mosaic impedes a straightforward phylogenetic assignment." The authors did not consider the possibility of a hummingbird and Eocypselus (also from Messel) interrelationship as recovered in the LRT. It was larger by a third than the largest living hummingbird, Patagona (see below). The authors considered a comparison to the stilt, Himantopus, which also feeds by probing, but presently only the LRT allies hummingbirds with stilts in analysis.

Archilochus coubris (L. Reichenbach 1854) is the extant ruby-throated hummingbird. Among the smallest of birds, hummingbirds are only found in the Americas. Their wings hum because they flap so rapidly, approximately 50x/second. They have the highest metabolism during the day, but at night they experience torpor to conserve energy. They survive on nectar from flowers, with which they co-evolved. Hummingbirds are related to swifts and are known form 30-million-year-old fossils.

Patagona gigas (Viellot 1824) the giant hummingbird is the largest extant hummingbird.

Mayr G and Smith K 2025. A remarkable beak morphology in a bird skull from the Eocene of Messel (Germany) signifies unusual feeding specializations. R. Soc. Open Sci. 12:
250620. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.250620

Reichenbach 1854, L. Aufzählung der Colibris oder Trochilideen in ihrer wahren natiirlichen Verwandtschaft, nebst Schlüssel ihrer Synonymik. Extra., marz, 1–54. besondere Beilage: 1–24.(Enumeration of the colibris or trochilides in their true natural relationship, together with the keys of their synonymy. Extra., Malt, 1-54. Special su

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