Black-billed mountain toucan

Black-billed mountain toucan
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Ramphastidae
Genus:	Andigena
Species:	A. nigrirostris
Binomial name
Andigena nigrirostris (Waterhouse, 1839)
Subspecies
See text
Synonyms
Pteroglossus nigrirostris

The black-billed mountain toucan (Andigena nigrirostris) is a species of bird in the Ramphastidae family. It is found in humid highland forests in the Andes of western Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and far northern Peru. It is the only mountain-toucan with a white throat. Despite its name, only the nominate subspecies has an entirely black bill, while both A. n. occidentalis and A. n. spilorhyncha have bills that are coloured chestnut and black.

Taxonomy and systematics

This species was originally described in the genus Pteroglossus.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized:^[2]

• A. n. occidentalis - Chapman, 1915: Found in western Colombia
• A. n. spilorhynchus - Gould, 1858: Originally described as a separate species. Found in southern Colombia, north-eastern Ecuador and northern Peru
• A. n. nigrirostris - (Waterhouse, 1839): Found in eastern Colombia, western Venezuela and eastern Ecuador

Literature

• John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter: A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans, London 1854
  • Newly printed with an Introduction by Jonathan Elphick, Taschen, Köln, Germany 2011 ISBN 978-3-8365-0524-6

Feeding on fruits in Colombia

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andigena nigrirostris.