Red-necked Aracari Pteroglossus bitorquatus Scientific name definitions

The canopy-inhabiting Red-necked Aracari is one of the most infrequently encountered of the southern Amazonian aracaris, and little is known concerning its behavior and breeding biology. The species ranges from northeast Brazil at the mouth of the Amazon south as far as northeast Bolivia, and is largely confined to lowland terra firme forests, although it occasionally ranges into gallery forests within the Cerrado region. Despite the obvious plumage similarities between this species and the Ivory-billed Aracari (Pteroglossus azara), the Red-necked Aracari is speculated to be more closely related to the Green Aracari (Pteroglossus viridis) and the Lettered Aracari (Pteroglossus inscriptus). Three subspecies are generally recognized, of which P. b. sturmii, in the western and southern portions of the species’ range, and P. b. reichenowi, of the Tapajós–Tocantins interfluvium, have, in the past, sometimes been regarded as separate species.