Ramphastides is an infraorder of the order
Piciformes
Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes , the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, o ...
that includes
toucan
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 g ...
s and barbets. Formerly, the barbets have been classified in a single family, the
Capitonidae
New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans.
The New World barbets are plump birds, with short ...
. However, this has turned out to be
paraphyletic
In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...
with regard to toucans, which resulted in the
Capitonidae
New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans.
The New World barbets are plump birds, with short ...
being split into several families.
Systematics
The Ramphastides contain five extant families. Sometimes, they are treated as the superfamily Ramphastoidea.
[Simpson, S. F., & Cracraft, J. (1981). The phylogenetic relationships of the Piciformes (Class Aves). The Auk, 481-494.]
*Infraorder Ramphastides
**
Megalaimidae - Asian barbets
**
Lybiidae
The African barbets are birds in the family Lybiidae. There are 43 species ranging from the type genus ''Lybius'' of forest interior to the tinkerbirds (''Pogoniulus'') of forest and scrubland. They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with t ...
- African barbets
**
Capitonidae
New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans.
The New World barbets are plump birds, with short ...
- New World barbets
**
Semnornithidae
The toucan-barbets are the small bird genus ''Semnornis''. This was often included in the paraphyletic barbets but recently usually considered a distinct family Semnornithidae; alternatively, all barbets might be moved to the toucan family Ram ...
- toucan-barbets
**
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 ...
- toucans
References
External links
Tree of Life Piciformes
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20817955
Pici (taxon)
Neognathae