An aracari or araçari ( , , ) is any of the medium-sized

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 that, together with the

saffron toucanet The saffron toucanet (''Pteroglossus bailloni'') is a species of bird in the family Ramphastidae found in the Atlantic Forest in far north-eastern Argentina, south-eastern Brazil, and eastern Paraguay. Taxonomy and systematics This species' sc ...

, make up the genus ''Pteroglossus''. They are brightly

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

d and have enormous, contrastingly patterned bills. These birds are residents in forests and woodlands in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Pteroglossus'' was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist

Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (19 November 1775 – 10 May 1813) was a German entomologist and zoologist. Illiger was the son of a merchant in Braunschweig. He studied under the entomologist Johann Hellwig, and later worked on the zoological colle ...

. The name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

''pteron'' meaning "feather" with ''glōssa'' meaning "tongue".

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray FRS (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the younger brother ...

designated the

black-necked aracari The black-necked aracari or black-necked araçari (''Pteroglossus aracari'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The bla ...

as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...

of the genus in 1840. The name "Aracari" was used in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave for the

in his book ''Historia Naturalis Brasiliae''. The name comes from the word ''Arassari'', the name of the bird in the

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (also spelled as Tupí) is an extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the aboriginal Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. It belongs to ...

. One species, the distinctive

, was formerly placed in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Baillonius'', but Renato Kimura and collaborators showed in 2004 that it belongs in the genus ''Pteroglossus''. A 2010

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study by Swati Patel and collaborators found that the

brown-mandibled aracari The brown-mandibled aracari (''Pteroglossus mariae'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Le ...

was nested with the subspecies of the

ivory-billed aracari The ivory-billed aracari or ivory-billed araçari (''Pteroglossus azara'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Il ...

Extant species

Fourteen species are considered to belong to the genus ''Pteroglossus'':

Former species

Some authorities, either presently or formerly, recognize additional species or subspecies as species belonging to the genus ''Pteroglossus'' including: *

Wagler's toucanet Wagler's toucanet (''Aulacorhynchus wagleri'') is a species of bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is endemic to southwestern Mexico. Taxonomy and systematics Wagler's toucanet was originally described in the genus '' Pteroglossus''. ...

(as ''Pteroglossus wagleri'') *

Emerald toucanet The emerald toucanet (''Aulacorhynchus prasinus'') is a species of near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found from Mexico to Nicaragua. Taxonomy and systematics The emerald toucanet was originally described in the ...

(as ''Pteroglossus prasinus'') * White-throated toucanet (as ''Pteroglossus albivitta'') * Black-throated toucanet (as ''Pteroglossus atrogularis'') * Groove-billed toucanet (as ''Pteroglossus sulcatus'') * Crimson-rumped toucanet (as ''Pteroglossus haematopygus'') *

Guianan toucanet The Guianan toucanet, or Guyana toucanet (''Selenidera piperivora'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccor ...

(as ''Pteroglossus Culik'') * Golden-collared toucanet (as ''Pteroglossus reinwardtii'') * Langsdorff's toucanet (as ''Pteroglossus langsdorffii'') *

Tawny-tufted toucanet The tawny-tufted toucanet (''Selenidera nattereri'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and possible Guyana.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. J ...

(as ''Pteroglossus nattereri'') *

Gould's toucanet Gould's toucanet (''Selenidera gouldii'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Bolivia and Brazil.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B ...

(as ''Pteroglossus gouldii'') *

Spot-billed toucanet The spot-billed toucanet (''Selenidera maculirostris'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F ...

(as ''Pteroglossus maculirostris'') * Gray-breasted mountain toucan (as ''Pteroglossus hypoglaucus'') *

Hooded mountain toucan The hooded mountain toucan (''Andigena cucullata'') is a species of bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Bolivia and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The hooded mountain toucan was originally described in genus '' Pterogloss ...

(as ''Pteroglossus cucullatus'') *

Black-billed mountain toucan The black-billed mountain toucan (''Andigena nigrirostris'') is a species of bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The black-billed mountain toucan was orig ...

(as ''Pteroglossus nigrirostris'')

Behaviour and ecology

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.

Breeding

They are

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose nu ...

and nest in tree holes laying 2–4 white eggs.

Food and feeding

All the species are basically fruit-eating, but will take insects and other small prey.

Threats

The

ischnocera The Ischnocera is a large superfamily of lice. They are mostly parasitic on birds, but including a large family (the Trichodectidae) parasitic on mammals. The genus '' Trichophilopterus'' is also found on mammals (lemurs), but probably belong ...

louse Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a resul ...

'' Austrophilopterus flavirostris'' is suspected to

parasitize Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

most if not all species of aracaris, with the possible exception of the

green aracari The green araçari (''Pteroglossus viridis''), is a toucan, a near-passerine bird. It is found in the lowland forests of northeastern South America (the Guiana Shield), in the northeast Amazon Basin, the Guianas and the eastern Orinoco River drain ...

(Price & Weckstein 2005).

References

*Price, Roger D. & Weckstein, Jason D. (2005): The genus ''Austrophilopterus'' Ewing (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) from toucans, toucanets, and araçaris (Piciformes: Ramphastidae). ''

Zootaxa ''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a wee ...

'' 918: 1–18
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q1076011 Toucans