White-throated toucan
| White-throated toucan | |
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| Ramphastos t. tucanus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Ramphastidae |
| Genus: | Ramphastos |
| Species: | R. tucanus |
| Binomial name | |
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Ramphastos tucanus Linnaeus, 1758 |
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| Subspecies | |
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| Synonyms | |
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See text
The white-throated toucan (Ramphastos tucanus) is a near-passerine bird in the family Ramphastidae found in South America throughout the Amazon Basin including the adjacent and Araguaia River drainage. It prefers tropical humid forest, but also occurs in woodland and locally in riverine forest within the Cerrado.
The white-throated toucan was formerly considered to be three separate species. The red-billed toucan and Cuvier's toucan, which differ principally in the bill colour, interbreed freely wherever they meet and therefore now merit only subspecies status. Some authorities consider the Inca toucan to represent a stable hybrid population between the other two subspecies and do not recognize it as a separate subspecies.
Three subspecies are recognized:
Like other toucans, the white-throated toucan is brightly marked and has a huge bill. It has a total length of 50–61 cm (19.5–24 in). Body weight is somewhat variable, ranging in adult birds from 425 to 830 g (0.937 to 1.830 lb). The male averages slightly larger, at a mass of 642 g (1.415 lb), while the female averages 580 g (1.28 lb). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 20.4 to 26.5 cm (8.0 to 10.4 in), the bill is 12.2 to 22 cm (4.8 to 8.7 in), the tail is 13.3 to 16.8 cm (5.2 to 6.6 in), and the tarsus is 4.5 to 5.6 cm (1.8 to 2.2 in). The only species of toucan that surpasses the white-throated in size is the .
It has black plumage with a white throat and breast bordered below with a narrow red line. The rump is bright yellow and the crissum (the area around the cloaca) is red. The bare skin around the eye is blue. The bill has a yellow tip, upper ridge and base of the upper mandible, and the base of the lower mandible is blue. The rest of the bill is mainly black in R. t. cuvieri and mainly reddish-brown in R. t. tucanus, with intergrades showing a mixed coloration. Males are larger and longer-billed than females, but otherwise the sexes are alike.
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