Mellisuga

{{short description|Genus of birds}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Mellisuga

| image = Calypte helenae ampliado.jpg

| image_caption = Mellisuga helenae

| taxon = Mellisuga

| authority = Brisson, 1760

| type_species = Trochilus minimus

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

}}

Mellisuga is a genus of hummingbirds in the family Trochilidae. They are notable for being the first and second smallest bird species in the world.

The genus was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the vervain hummingbird as the type species.{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés | volume=1 | language=French, Latin | at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010438 Vol. 1, p. 40], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35953821 Vol. 3, p. 694] | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1945 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=5 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=135 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480146 }} The name Mellisuga is a combination of the Latin words mel or mellis, meaning "honey" and sugere, meaning "to suck".{{cite book | title = The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Names | url = https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | first = James A. | last = Jobling | year = 2010 | location = London, UK | publisher = Christopher Helm | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n249 249] }}