Ivory-billed Aracari

About the Ivory-billed Aracari

The ivory-billed aracari or ivory-billed araçari (Pteroglossus azara) is a bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The ivory-billed aracari was formally described in 1819 by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot under the binomial name Ramphastos azara. Vieillot based his account on "Le Toucan-Aracari, Azara" from Brazil that had been described and illustrated in 1807 by the French naturalist François Levaillant. The epithet azara was chosen to honour the Spanish soldier and naturalist Félix de Azara. The ivory-billed aracari is now one of 13 species placed in the genus Pteroglossus that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.

Three subspecies are recognised: P. a. flavirostris Fraser, 1841 – west Amazonia P. a. azara (Vieillot, 1819) – northwest Amazonian Brazil P. a. mariae Gould, 1854 – southwest Amazonia (brown-mandibled aracari) The subspecies P. a. mariae has sometimes been considered as a separate species, the brown-mandibled aracari.

The ivory-billed aracari is 36 to 45 cm (14 to 18 in) long and weighs 120 to 160 g (4.2 to 5.6 oz). The two subspecies... Wikipedia →