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Ramphastos
Sign in to saveThe Ramphastos genus, also known as true toucans, is a genus of brightly colored, tropical birds that are found throughout Central and South America from Southern Mexico to the southern cone of the South American continent. Toucans are typically characterized by their large, colorful bills, which are used for a variety of functions such as thermoregulation, feeding, and social signaling.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassAves
- OrderPiciformes
- FamilyRamphastidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 85
- With media
- 1
- Family
- Ramphastidae
- Collections
- UNSM, CUMV, FMNH, CLO, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA MUSEUMS, UMNH
- Recorded in
- United States, Paraguay, Guyana, Costa Rica, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Locality Unknown
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
17 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Species
- Former species
- Description
- Diversity of bills
- Distribution and habitat
- Behavior and ecology
- Breeding
- Food and feeding
- Threats
- Evolution
- Phylogenetics
- History
- Transposable Elements
- Notes
- References
- External links
The Ramphastos genus, also known as true toucans, is a genus of brightly colored, tropical birds that are found throughout Central and South America from Southern Mexico to the southern cone of the South American continent. Toucans are typically characterized by their large, colorful bills, which are used for a variety of functions such as thermoregulation, feeding, and social signaling.
==Taxonomy== The genus Ramphastos was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The name is from Ancient Greek ῥαμφηστης/rhamphēstēs meaning "snouted" (from ῥαμφη/rhampē meaning "bill"). The type species was later designated by Nicholas Aylward Vigors as the white-throated toucan (Ramphastos tucanus).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ramphastos” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.