Ramphastides is an infraorder of the order
Piciformes that includes
toucan
Toucans (, ) are Neotropical birds in the family Ramphastidae. They are most closely related to the Semnornis, Toucan barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful Beak, bills. The family includes five genus, genera and over ...
s and barbets. Formerly, the barbets have been classified in a single family, the
Capitonidae. However, this has turned out to be
paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
with regard to toucans, which resulted in the
Capitonidae being split into several families.
Systematics
The Ramphastides contain five extant families. Sometimes, they are treated as the superfamily Ramphastoidea.
[Simpson, S. F., & Cracraft, J. (1981). The phylogenetic relationships of the Piciformes (Class Aves). The Auk, 481-494.]
*Infraorder Ramphastides
**
Megalaimidae - Asian barbets
**
Lybiidae - African barbets
**
Capitonidae - New World barbets
**
Semnornithidae - toucan-barbets
**
Ramphastidae - toucans
References
External links
Tree of Life Piciformes
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20817955
Pici (taxon)
Neognathae
Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors