Pteroglossus

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Aves
Subclassis: Carinatae
Infraclassis: Neornithes
Parvclassis: Neognathae
Ordo: Piciformes
Familia: Ramphastidae
Subfamilia: Ramphastinae
Genus: Pteroglossus
Species: P. aracari - P. azara - P. bailloni - P. beauharnaesii - P. bitorquatus - P. castanotis - P. erythropygius - P. frantzii - P. inscriptus - P. mariae - P. pluricinctus - P. sanguineus - P. torquatus - P. viridis

Name

Pteroglossus Illiger, 1811

Reference

Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium p.202

Vernacular names
Internationalization
English: Aracari
Türkçe: Arasari

The aracaris (or araçaris) are medium-sized toucans in the genus Pteroglossus. As denoted by the presence of the cedilla on the C (ç), the proper pronunciation is "ahr-uh-SAHR-ee" not "ahr-uh-KAR-ee".

They are brightly plumaged and with enormous colourful bills.

Diet

All the species are basically fruit-eating, but will take insects and other small prey.

Nesting

They are arboreal and nest in tree holes laying 2–4 white eggs. They are resident breeders and do not migrate.

Social Behavior

The aracaris are unusual for toucans in that they roost socially throughout the year, up to six adults and fledged young sleeping in the same hole with tails folded over their backs.

Parasite

The ischnoceran louse Austrophilopterus flavirostris is suspected to parasitize most if not all species of aracaris, with the possible exception of the Green Aracari (Price & Weckstein 2005).

One species, the distinctive Saffron Toucanet, was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Baillonius, but Kimura et al. (2004) was able to show that it belongs in the genus Pteroglossus[1].

Species list

* Saffron Toucanet, Pteroglossus bailloni
* Green Aracari, Pteroglossus viridis
* Lettered Aracari, Pteroglossus inscriptus
* Collared Aracari, Pteroglossus torquatus
* Black-necked Aracari, Pteroglossus aracari
* Chestnut-eared Aracari, Pteroglossus castanotis
* Many-banded Aracari, Pteroglossus pluricinctus
* Ivory-billed Aracari, Pteroglossus azara
* Curl-crested Aracari, Pteroglossus beauharnaesii
* Red-necked Aracari, Pteroglossus bitorquatus
* Brown-mandibled Aracari, Pteroglossus mariae
* Fiery-billed Aracari, Pteroglossus frantzii
* Stripe-billed Aracari, Pteroglossus sanguineus
* Pale-mandibled Aracari, Pteroglossus erythropygius

References

1. ^ "South American Classification Committee". Merge Baillonius into Pteroglossus. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~remsen/SACCprop151.html. Retrieved 2007-09-16.

* BirdLife International 2004. Pteroglossus bailloni. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 27 July 2007.
* Price, Roger D. & Weckstein, Jason D. (2005): The genus Austrophilopterus Ewing (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) from toucans, toucanets, and araçaris (Piciformes: Ramphastidae). Zootaxa 918: 1-18. PDF fulltext