Channel-billed Toucan

About the Channel-billed Toucan

The channel-billed toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus) is a species of bird in the family Ramphastidae found on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and in tropical South America as far south as southern Brazil and central Bolivia.

The channel-billed toucan was formally described in 1823 as Ramphastos vitellinus by the German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein. The specific epithet is Medieval Latin meaning "deep yellow colour tinged red", from Latin vitellus meaning "yolk of an egg". The type location is Cayenne in French Guiana.

Four subspecies are recognized: These subspecies were previously considered separate species, but all four will interbreed freely wherever they meet. However, the subspecies R. v. ariel is closer to R. v. culminatus than to the nominate, and are by some already considered close to distinct species status. As R. v. ariel was described before R. v. culminatus, if separated they would become Ramphastos ariel ariel and R. a. culminatus. There also exists an isolated population in eastern Brazil. It looks very similar to, and has traditionally been considered part of, R. v. ariel, but molecular analysis suggests that it has been isolated for... Wikipedia →