Aracaris | |
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Pale-mandibled aracari Pteroglossus erythropygius | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Ramphastidae |
Genus: | Pteroglossus Illiger, 1811 |
Type species | |
Ramphastos aracari (black-necked aracari) Linnaeus, 1758
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Species | |
14 (incl. the saffron toucanet), see text. | |
Synonyms | |
List
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An aracari or araçari (US: /ˌɑːrəˈsɑːri/ AR-ə-SAR-ee,[1] UK: /ˌærəˈsɑːri/ ARR-ə-SAR-ee, /-ˈkɑːri/ -KAR-ee)[2] is any of the medium-sized toucans that, together with the saffron toucanet, make up the genus Pteroglossus.
They are brightly plumaged and have enormous, contrastingly patterned bills. These birds are residents in forests and woodlands in the Neotropics.
The genus Pteroglossus was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.[3] The name combines the Ancient Greek pteron meaning "feather" with glōssa meaning "tongue".[4] George Robert Gray designated the black-necked aracari as the type species of the genus in 1840.[5][6]
The name "Aracari" was used in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave for the black-necked aracari in his book Historia Naturalis Brasiliae.[7] The name comes from the word Arassari, the name of the bird in the Tupi language.[8]
One species, the distinctive saffron toucanet, was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Baillonius, but Renato Kimura and collaborators showed in 2004 that it belongs in the genus Pteroglossus.[9][10]
A 2010 molecular phylogenetic study by Swati Patel and collaborators found that the brown-mandibled aracari was nested with the subspecies of the ivory-billed aracari:[11]
Pteroglossus |
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Fourteen species are considered to belong to the genus Pteroglossus:[12]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
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Green aracari | Pteroglossus viridis (Linnaeus, 1766) |
lowland forests of northeastern South America (the Guiana Shield), in the northeast Amazon Basin, the Guianas and the eastern Orinoco River drainage of Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Lettered aracari | Pteroglossus inscriptus Swainson, 1822 |
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Red-necked aracari | Pteroglossus bitorquatus Vigors, 1826 |
Bolivia and Brazil |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
EN
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Ivory-billed aracari | Pteroglossus azara (Vieillot, 1819) |
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Brown-mandibled aracari | Pteroglossus mariae Gould, 1854 |
Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
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Black-necked aracari | Pteroglossus aracari (Linnaeus, 1758) Three subspecies[13]
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Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Chestnut-eared aracari | Pteroglossus castanotis (Gould, 1834) |
Amazon Basin, Paraguay, Bolivia, southeastern Brazil and the extreme northeast of Argentina |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Many-banded aracari | Pteroglossus pluricinctus (Gould, 1835) |
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Collared aracari | Pteroglossus torquatus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) |
southern Mexico to Panama; also Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Stripe-billed aracari | Pteroglossus sanguineus Gould, 1854 |
Colombia and Ecuador | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Pale-mandibled aracari | Pteroglossus erythropygius Gould, 1843 |
Ecuador and Peru | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Fiery-billed aracari | Pteroglossus frantzii (Cabanis, 1861) |
southern Costa Rica and western Panama |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Curl-crested aracari | Pteroglossus beauharnaisii (Wagler, 1831) |
Amazon Basin |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Saffron toucanet | Pteroglossus bailloni (Vieillot, 1819) |
Brazil |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
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Some authorities, either presently or formerly, recognize additional species or subspecies as species belonging to the genus Pteroglossus including:
Some species of aracaris are unusual for toucans in that they roost socially throughout the year, up to six adults and fledged young sleeping in the same hole with tails folded over their backs.
They are arboreal and nest in tree holes laying 2–4 white eggs.
All the species are basically fruit-eating, but will take insects and other small prey.
The ischnoceran louse Austrophilopterus flavirostris is suspected to parasitize most if not all species of aracaris, with the possible exception of the green aracari (Price & Weckstein 2005).