2011/03/24 by Elisa Bonaccorso, Juan M. Guayasamin, A. Townsend Peterson +1 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Plant and animal studies #Genetic diversity and population structure #Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2011.00475.x
openalex publication_date 2011/03/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/22
Bonaccorso, E., Guayasamin, J. M., Peterson, A. T. & Navarro‐Sigüenza, A. G. (2011). Molecular phylogeny and systematics of Neotropical toucanets in the genus Aulacorhynchus (Aves, Ramphastidae). — Zoologica Scripta, 40 , 336–349. We studied the phylogenetic relationships in the genus Aulacorhynchus , an assemblage of Neotropical toucanets distributed from Mexico south to Bolivia. Based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA characters, we obtained a robust hypothesis of relationships for all recognized species, including good representation of distinct geographic populations. Our results support the monophyly of the genus Aulacorhynchus , but contradict previous taxonomic arrangements. The genus is made up of three major clades: the Aulacorhynchus prasinus complex, Aulacorhynchus huallagae + Aulacorhynchus coeruleicinctis , and Aulacorhynchus haematopygus + Aulacorhynchus sulcatus + Aulacorhynchus derbianus . Andean populations of A. derbianus are more closely related to A. sulcatus than to Pantepuian populations of A. derbianus , rendering A. derbianus paraphyletic. Based on the molecular phylogeny, and information on geographic distributions and morphological and behavioural characters, we review the specific status of these taxa and propose a new taxonomic arrangement within Aulacorhynchus .