Green toucanetsBoyd, J. (2011). Ramphastidae: Toucans. Accessed 20 May 2011 are birds from the genus Aulacorhynchus in the toucan family. They are native to Mexico, and Central and South America. All are found in humid forests and woodlands in highlands, but a few also occur in adjacent lowlands.Short, L. L., & Horne, J. F. M. (2002). Toucans (Ramphastidae). pp. 220-272 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J. eds. (2002). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 7 Jacamars to Woodpecker. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. They are relatively small toucans, long, with colorful, mainly green, plumage. They are typically seen in pairs or small groups, and sometimes follow mixed species flocks.Restall, R. L., Rodner, C., & Lentino, M. (2006). Birds of Northern South America. Christopher Helm, London. (vol. 1). (vol. 2).
Taxonomy The genus Aulacorhynchus was introduced in 1835 by the English ornithologist John Gould. The name combines the Ancient Greek αυλαξ/aulax, αυλακος/aulakos meaning "furrow" with ῥυγχος/rhunkhos meaning "bill". The type species was designated as Pteroglossuis sulcatus Swainson by George Gray in 1840.
A major taxonomy review in 1974 resulted in 6 species in the genus Aulacorhynchus,Haffer, J. (1974). Avian speciation in tropical South America. Publ. Nuttall Ornithol. Club 14: 1–390. and this was adopted by virtually all later authorities.Remsen, J. V., Jr., C. D. Cadena, A. Jaramillo, M. Nores, J. F. Pacheco, J. Pérez-Emán, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, D. F. Stotz, and K. J. Zimmer (2011). A classification of the bird species of South America: Trogoniformes to Piciformes. American Ornithologists' Union. Accessed 25 May 2011Fjeldså, J., and Krabbe, N. (1990). Birds of the High Andes. Dickinson, E. C., eds. (2003). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd edition. Clement, J. F. (2007, w. online updates). The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World. 6th edition.
In 2001, it was suggested that A. prasinus, as traditionally defined, was a species complex that should be split into 7 different species based on preliminary morphological evidence.Navarro, A., Peterson, A., López-Medrano, E., and Benítez-Díaz, H. (2001). Species limits in Mesoamerican Aulocorhynchus Toucanets. The Wilson Bull. 113(4): 363-372 This was to some extent supported by genetic evidence, which suggested that additional species should be recognized. As a result, A. griseigularis was split from in A. albivitta based on this early genetic evidence but these species are now lumped together again.Bonaccorso, E., Guayasamin, J. M., Peterson, A. T., and Navarro-Sigüenza, A. G. (2011). Molecular phylogeny and systematics of Neotropical toucanets in the genus Aulacorhynchus (Aves, Ramphastidae). Zoologica Scripta, 40. Puebla-Olivares, F., E. Bonaccorso, A. E. de los Monteros, K. E. Omland, J. E. Llorente-Bousquets, A. T. Peterson, and A.G. Navarro-Siguenza. (2008). Speciation in the Emerald Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) complex. The Auk. 125(1): 39-50.
Currently, there remains a considerable lack of consensus to support the IOC's latest taxonomy of Aulacorhynchus into eleven species. Several authorities still maintain that the genus Aulacorhynchus has only 7 species and treat the remaining as subspecies. The SACC has called for further genetic studies of this genus.
Species The genus contains eight species:
Image Scientific name Common name Distribution Aulacorhynchus prasinus Northern emerald toucanet Mexico and Central America Aulacorhynchus albivitta Southern emerald toucanet Andes from western Venezuela, through Colombia to northern Ecuador Aulacorhynchus sulcatus Groove-billed toucanet eastern Colombia and northern Venezuela Aulacorhynchus derbianus Chestnut-tipped toucanet Colombia to central Bolivia Aulacorhynchus whitelianus Tepui toucanet Guiana Aulacorhynchus haematopygus Crimson-rumped toucanetEcuador, Colombia and Venezuela Aulacorhynchus huallagae Yellow-browed toucanet east Andean slope in northern Peru. Aulacorhynchus coeruleicinctis Blue-banded toucanet Bolivia and Peru.
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