Buceros | |
---|---|
Rhinoceros hornbill Buceros rhinoceros | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Bucerotiformes |
Family: | Bucerotidae |
Genus: | Buceros Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Buceros rhinoceros (rhinoceros hornbill) Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
See text. | |
Synonyms | |
Hydrocorax Brisson, 1760 |
Buceros is a genus of large Asian hornbills (family Bucerotidae).
Hornbills in the genus Buceros include some of the largest arboreal hornbills in the world, with the largest being the great hornbill. All the hornbills in this genus have a large and hollow bony casque on their upper beak that can be useful to scientists and bird watchers to recognise their age, sex and species. Their wingspan can be up to 1.8 meters (6 foot) and they have the largest wingspan out of all the hornbills.
The genus Buceros was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . [1] The name is from Latin becerus meaning "horned like an ox" which in turn is from the Ancient Greek boukerōs which combines bous meaning "ox" with kerōs meaning "horn". [2] The type species was designated as the rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) by Daniel Giraud Elliot in 1882. [3] [4]
The genus contains three species: [5]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rhinoceros hornbill | Buceros rhinoceros Linnaeus, 1758 | Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and southern Thailand | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
Great hornbill | Buceros bicornis Linnaeus, 1758 | India, Bhutan, Nepal, Mainland Southeast Asia, Indonesian Island of Sumatra and North eastern region of India | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
Rufous hornbill | Buceros hydrocorax Linnaeus, 1756 | Philippines | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
The helmeted hornbill is sometimes included in this genus, but today most authorities place it in the monotypic Rhinoplax instead.
Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper mandible. Hornbills have a two-lobed kidney. They are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae are fused together; this probably provides a more stable platform for carrying the bill. The family is omnivorous, feeding on fruit and small animals. They are monogamous breeders nesting in natural cavities in trees and sometimes cliffs. A number of mainly insular species of hornbill with small ranges are threatened with extinction, mainly in Southeast Asia.
The four species of avocets are a genus, Recurvirostra, of waders in the same avian family as the stilts. The genus name comes from Latin recurvus, 'curved backwards' and rostrum, 'bill'. The common name is thought to derive from the Italian (Ferrarese) word avosetta. Francis Willughby in 1678 noted it as the "Avosetta of the Italians".
Phoenicopterus is a genus of birds in the flamingo family Phoenicopteridae.
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The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America.
Penelopides is the genus of relatively small, primarily frugivorous hornbills restricted to forested areas of the Philippines. Their common name, tarictic hornbills, is an onomatopoetic reference to the main call of several of them. They have a ridged plate-like structure on the base of their mandible. All are sexually dimorphic: males of all species are whitish-buff and black, while females of all except the Mindoro hornbill are primarily black.
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The African grey hornbill is a member of the hornbill family of mainly tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World. It is a widespread resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The African grey hornbill has escaped or been deliberately released into Florida, USA, but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes.
The rhinoceros hornbill is a large species of forest hornbill (Bucerotidae). In captivity it can live for up to 35 years. It is found in lowland and montane, tropical and subtropical climates and in mountain rain forests up to 1,400 metres in Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and southern Thailand.
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The genus Paradisaea consists of six species of birds-of-paradise. The genus is found on the island of New Guinea as well as the nearby islands groups of the Aru Islands, D'Entrecasteaux Islands and Raja Ampat Islands. The species inhabit a range of forest types from sea level to mid-montane forests. Several species have highly restricted distributions, and all species have disjunct distributions. A 2009 study examining the mitochondrial DNA of the family found that the Paradisaea birds-of-paradise were in a clade with the genus Cicinnurus. It showed that the blue bird-of-paradise was a sister taxon to all the other species in this genus.
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Tetrao is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Feathers from the bird were used to create the characteristic hat of the bersaglieri, an Italian ace infantry formation.
The Luzon hornbill, sometimes called Luzon tarictic hornbill, is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is endemic to forests on Luzon and nearby islands in the northern Philippines. All five Philippine tarictics were once considered a single species. It is declining due to habitat destruction, hunting and the illegal wildlife trade.
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The Greater Antillean bullfinch is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae.
The lined seedeater is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae.
Lophoceros is a genus of birds in the hornbill family, Bucerotidae, which are native to Africa.