Toucan Barbet

Taxobox
name = Toucan Barbet

---

status = NT
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = [* IUCN2006|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=20105|title=Semnornis ramphastinus|downloaded=11 May 2006 Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is near threatened]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Piciformes
familia = Semnornithidae
genus = "Semnornis"
species = "S. ramphastinus"
binomial = "Semnornis ramphastinus"
binomial_authority = (Jardine, 1855)

The Toucan Barbet, "Semnornis ramphastinus", is a distinctive Neotropical bird.

It often has been united with the other barbets in the Capitonidae. However, DNA studiesFact|date=May 2007 have confirmed that this arrangement is paraphyletic. The toucans are more closely related to the "true" New World barbets than the latter are to the genus "Semnornis" or barbets of the Old World. As a result, the barbet lineages are again considered distinct families; the present species together with the Prong-billed Barbet now form a separate family, Semnornithidae.

The Toucan Barbet is unusual amongst frugiverous birds in that it breeds cooperatively, with several helpers aiding the dominant breeding pair with incubation and raising the young. [Carla Restrepo and Marta Lucy Mondragón (1998)"Cooperative Breeding in the Frugivorous Toucan Barbet ("Semnornis ramphastinus")" "The Auk" 115 (1)4-15 ]

References

External links

* [http://montereybay.com/creagrus/toucan-barbets.html Family page for Toucan-barbet and Prong-billed Barbet at Don Roberson's website]