Toucans (Ramphastidae)

White-throated Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus) - HBW 7, p. 271

French: Toucan à bec rouge German: Weißbrusttukan Spanish: Tucán Pechiblanco
Other common names: White-breasted Toucan; Cuvier’s Toucan (cuvieri); Red-billed/Orange-billed Toucan (tucanus); Inca Toucan (inca)

Taxonomy: Ramphastos Tucanus Linnaeus, 1758, Surinam.
No very close relatives. Fairly close to R. ambiguus, but probably not forming a superspecies; together they constitute the so-called “yelping group” of toucans. Race cuvieri considered a separate species by some, but interbreeds with nominate over vast area; variably intermediate populations occur in large area in Brazil from R Solimões and Rondônia E to Pará, and from S Venezuela to Mato Grosso and Goiás. Race inca sometimes merged with cuvieri, with which intergrades, and inca appears to represent semi-stabilized hybrid population; in past, alternatively at times considered a distinct species. Forms named as “aurantiirostris”, “erythrorhynchus” and “haematorhynchus” are merely red-billed or orange-billed variants of nominate race; other described forms are monilis from Guyana and oblitus from R Tapajós, Brazil, both now included within nominate. Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

cuvieri Wagler, 1827 - S & SW Venezuela, also SE Colombia and W Amazonian Brazil S to E Peru and N Bolivia.
tucanus Linnaeus, 1758 - E Venezuela, the Guianas, and NE Brazil E of R Negro and, S of Amazon, E of lower R Xingu in N Pará and N Maranhão.
inca Gould, 1846 - N & C Bolivia.