The groove-billed toucanet (''Aulacorhynchus sulcatus'') is a

near-passerine Near passerines and higher land-bird assemblage are terms of traditional, pre-cladistic taxonomy that have often been given to tree-dwelling birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines (order Passeriformes) owing to mor ...

bird in the toucan family

Ramphastidae Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five gen ...

. It is found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The groove-billed toucanet was originally described in the genus '' Pteroglossus''. The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC), the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

, and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

recognize these three subspecies:Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022 * The

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

''A. s. sulcatus'' - ( Swainson, 1820) * ''A. s. erythrognathus'' -

Gould Gould may refer to: People * Gould (name), a surname Places United States * Gould, Arkansas, a city * Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Gould, Oklahoma, a town * Gould, West Virginia, a ...

, 1874 * ''A. s. calorhynchus'' - Gould, 1874 ''A. s. calorhynchus'' was formerly treated as a separate species, "yellow-billed toucanet", by most taxonomists but was merged into the groove-billed toucanet starting in 2012.

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

retains it as a species.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved December 13, 2022 Subspecies ''A. s. erythrognathus'' might warrant consideration as a separate species because its voice is different from that of the other two subspecies. AulacorhamphusCalorhynchusKeulemans

Description

The groove-billed toucanet is long and weighs . Its grooved culmen and

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...

give it its English name. In the nominate subspecies and ''A. s. erythrognathus'', most of the bill is wine-red to brown-red with a diagonal black stripe on the mandible. The nominate's bill also has a vertical white stripe at its base. In ''A. s. calorhynchus'' the bill is mostly yellow with a reduced amount of black, some orange-red at the base of the mandible, and a white stripe like the nominate's. All subspecies are overall mostly green, with the underparts being lighter and the undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

yellower. The nominate subspecies has a white throat, some gold-bronze on the face, and bare blue skin around the brownish eye. ''A. s. erythrognathus'' has essentially the same plumage but with less gold-bronze on the face. ''A. s. calorhynchus'' also has similar plumage to the nominate but is larger than it and ''A. s. erythrognathus''.del Hoyo, J., L.L. Short, G. M. Kirwan, and N. Collar (2021). Groove-billed Toucanet (''Aulacorhynchus sulcatus''), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grbtou1.02 retrieved December 19, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of groove-billed toucanet are found thus: * ''A. s. sulcatus'', northern Venezuela between

Falcón ) , anthem = , image_map = Falcon in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_mapsiz ...

and Miranda states * ''A. s. erythrognathus'', mountains of northeastern Venezuela * ''A. s. calorhynchus'',

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

and

Serranía del Perijá The Serranía del Perijá, Cordillera de Perijá or Sierra de Perijá is a mountain range, an extension of the eastern Andean branch ( Cordillera Oriental), in northern South America, between Colombia and Venezuela Venezuela (; ), offici ...

in northeastern Colombia and eastward to

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los Infa ...

in northwestern Venezuela The species primarily inhabits humid

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

but is also found in semi-open landscapes like

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

, forest edges and nearby isolated trees, and gardens. It shuns large open areas. In elevation it mostly ranges between but occurs as low as sea level and as high as about .

Behavior

Movement

The groove-billed toucanet is generally non-migratory but occasionally moves to lower parts of its elevational range in the rainy season.

Feeding

The groove-billed toucanet forages at all levels of its habitat, sometimes in groups. It has been observed following

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limit ...

swarms. Its diet is not known in detail but the species is omnivorous, eating fruit, invertebrates, eggs, and small vertebrates.

Breeding

Little is known about the groove-billed toucanet's breeding biology. Its season appears to be March to July in parts of its range but extends to August in northeastern Venezuela. In other parts of Venezuela it may nest as early as February and as late as October. It is believed to nest in tree cavities, either natural or those abandoned by woodpeckers. The nest, eggs, incubation period, and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

The groove-billed toucanet's song is "barking-growling notes or croaks...''wik-wik-'' to ''waak-waak-''", sometimes sung in duet. Male's voices are lower pitched than female's. ''A. s. erythrognathus'' song sounds similar to those of the other subspecies but is apparently faster.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the groove-billed toucanet as being of Least Concern, though its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. "Biological and further ecological data rerequired in case any of the subspecies should eventually need to be monitored."

References

External links

Photo-High Res
tropicalbirding.com

VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q883140

groove-billed toucanet The groove-billed toucanet (''Aulacorhynchus sulcatus'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The groove-billed toucanet was originally described in the ...

Birds of the Venezuelan Coastal Range

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot