Molecular phylogeny and systematics of Neotropical toucanets in the genusAulacorhynchus(Aves, Ramphastidae)

Bonaccorso, E., Guayasamin, J. M., Peterson, A. T. & Navarro‐Sigüenza, A. G. (2011). Molecular phylogeny and systematics of Neotropical toucanets in the genusAulacorhynchus(Aves, Ramphastidae). —Zoologica Scripta, 40, 336–349. We studied the phylogenetic relationships in the genusAulacorhynchus, 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 genusAulacorhynchus, but contradict previous taxonomic arrangements. The genus is made up of three major clades: theAulacorhynchus prasinuscomplex,Aulacorhynchus huallagae + Aulacorhynchus coeruleicinctis, andAulacorhynchus haematopygus + Aulacorhynchus sulcatus + Aulacorhynchus derbianus. Andean populations ofA. derbianusare more closely related toA. sulcatusthan to Pantepuian populations ofA. derbianus, renderingA. derbianusparaphyletic. 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 withinAulacorhynchus.