His forehead and throat are a glittering green shading to bluish-green at the lower edge and narrowly bordered by black.

Both sexes have crimson tails and a narrow white breast band, the male with a brilliantly iridescent golden-orange spot in the center, at the lower edge of his gorget.

It resides in the campo rupestre, an arid, high-elevation area characterized by rocky outcrops, poor soils, open habitats, and harsh climatic conditions.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature rates it as a near-threatened species, primarily because of the relatively small size of its range.

It is threatened by habitat loss, brought about primarily by unregulated mining and the conversion of the campo to pastureland and human habitation.

[4] John Gould moved it again in 1849, when he created the genus Augastes for this species and the hyacinth visorbearer, another east Brazilian endemic.

[5] DNA studies have shown that the two Augastes hummingbirds are sister species, and that the genus is most closely related to Geoffroy's daggerbill.

[9] Although the species name is sometimes written as lumachellus rather than lumachella, this is incorrect; because it is an Italian word (rather than a Latinized one), it is considered to be invariable.

[5] Found only in the Chapada Diamantina region of Bahia, it is restricted to campo rupestre,[14] a high-elevation ecoregion that is characterized by poor soils, open vegetation, rocky outcrops and harsh climatic conditions.

[20] The International Union for Conservation of Nature now rates the hooded visorbearer as a near-threatened species, based primarily on its relatively small range.

[1] The decline of suitable habitat in both size and quality is ongoing, primarily as a result of uncontrolled fires and climate change.

[19] The mining of gold, diamonds, quartz and manganese within its range detrimentally affects habitat, as does the conversion of natural areas to animal pasturage and human habitation.