The discovery of Eurotrochilus fossils in Germany, France, and Poland was extremely important because today all 328 of the extant species of hummingbirds only occur in the New World but the fossils of Eurotrochilus suggest an Old World origin.[5] Extant hummingbirds are distinctly different than all other avians because of their unique adaptions for hovering flight and nectarivory.[4] Like extant hummingbirds, Eurotrochilus has these adaptions and are the only genus of stem group Trochilidae to do so.
Ornithophilous flowers, or flowers pollinated by birds, are present in the Old World. Flowers like Canarina eminii (Campanulacea), Impatiens sakeriana (Balasaminaceae), and Agapetes spp (Ericaceae) are similar in morphology to flowers with nectar from the New World and they specifically lack a perch for birds.[1] In the New World, similar flowers are pollinated by modern hummingbirds that do not need to perch on flowers due to their adaption for hovering flight.[1] Modern hummingbirds are not present in the Old World and instead long-tongued bees pollinate these flowers.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurotrochilus
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