There are doubts surrounding the subspecies status of "C. l. doubledayi" and "C. l. lawrencei". A study by McGuire et al. (2014) analyzed the mtDNA and nDNA of "C. l. doubledayi" and concluded that it should be treated as its own species instead. "C. l. doubledayi" was found to relate more to Canivet's Emerald ("Chlorostilbon canivetii") than the Broad-billed hummingbird. The same study also showed that the genus is paraphyletic and concluded that "C. latirostris" is closer related to Canivet's Emerald ("Chlorostilbon canivetii") than another other species in the genus, the Dusky Hummingbird ("Cynanthus sordidus").