Tauraco


Tauraco is a genus of turacos. It contains the "typical" or green turacos; though their plumage is not always green all over, the presence of significant amounts of turacoverdin-colored plumage generally sets Tauraco species apart from other Musophagidae. Indeed, as opposed to any other known birds, Tauraco turacos are the only living bird taxa that have any significant green pigment whatsoever, as the greens of many parrots etc. are due to structural color, not pigment. Their genus name was derived from a native West African name.

Species

Species are:
SectionImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Section TauracoGuinea turaco Tauraco persaWest and Central Africa, ranging from Senegal east to DR Congo and south to northern Angola
Section TauracoLivingstone's turacoTauraco livingstoniiBurundi, and is besides found from southern Tanzania to eastern and southern Malawi, eastern Zimbabwe, widely in Mozambique and along the subtropical coast of South Africa.
Section TauracoSchalow's turacoTauraco schalowiZambia, central Angola, the southern DRC, and the uplands of southern Kenya, northern and western Tanzania and western Malawi
Section TauracoKnysna turacoTauraco corythaixSouth Africa
Section TauracoBlack-billed turacoTauraco schuettiiDemocratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, West Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Section TauracoWhite-cheeked turacoTauraco leucotisEritrea, Ethiopia, and South Sudan
Section TauracoFischer's turacoTauraco fischeriKenya, Somalia, and Tanzania
Section TauracoYellow-billed turacoTauraco macrorhynchusAngola, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone
Section TauracoHartlaub's turacoTauraco hartlaubiKenya, Tanzania, and Uganda
Section TauracoRuspoli's turacoTauraco ruspoliisouthern Ethiopia
Section TauracoPurple-crested turacoTauraco porphyreolophusBurundi, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their southernmost occurrence is at the Mtamvuna River on the KwaZulu-Natal-Eastern Cape border
Section ProturacusWhite-crested turacoTauraco leucolophuseastern Nigeria and western Kenya
Section ProturacusRed-crested turacoTauraco erythrolophusAngola
Section ProturacusBannerman's turacoTauraco bannermaniCameroon

The last species had sometimes been united with the Rwenzori turaco, and the great blue turaco with Gallirex.