Trogon (genus)


Trogon is a genus of Coraciimorphae birds in the trogon family. Its members occur in forests and woodlands of the Americas, ranging from southeastern Arizona to northern Argentina.
They have large eyes, stout hooked bills, short wings, and long, squared-off, strongly graduated tails; black and white tail-feather markings form distinctive patterns on the underside. Males have richly colored metallic plumage, metallic on the upperparts. Although many have brightly coloured bare eye-rings, they lack the colorful patches of bare facial skin in their African counterparts, Apaloderma. Females and young are duller and sometimes hard to identify in the field. Eggs are white or bluish-white, unlike the pale blue eggs of quetzals. See the family account for further details.

Taxonomy

The genus Trogon was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the green-backed trogon as the type species. The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek τρωγων trōgōn for "fruit-eating" or "gnawing". The name had previously been used by the German naturalist Paul Möhring in 1752 for the blue-crowned trogon.

Species

The genus contains 20 species:
MaleFemaleScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Lattice-tailed trogonTrogon clathratusCosta Rica and Panama.
Slaty-tailed trogonTrogon massenasoutheastern Mexico south through Central America, to Colombia, and a small region of northwestern Ecuador.
Chocó trogonTrogon comptuswestern Colombia and north-western Ecuador.
Ecuadorian trogonTrogon mesuruswestern Ecuador and far north-western Peru.
Black-tailed trogonTrogon melanurusnorth-western South America and adjacent Panama.
Black-headed trogonTrogon melanocephalusnorthern Colombia, northern Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.
Citreoline trogonTrogon citreoluswestern Mexico
White-tailed trogonTrogon chionurusChocó, ranging from Panama, through western Colombia, to western Ecuador.
Baird's trogonTrogon bairdiiCosta Rica and far western Panama
Green-backed trogonTrogon viridisthe Amazon, the Guiana Shield, Trinidad, and the Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil.
Gartered trogonTrogon caligatuseast-central Mexico, south through Central America, to west or north of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela
Amazonian trogonTrogon ramonianusthe Amazon
Guianan trogonTrogon violaceusMexico, Central America, and northern South America
Blue-crowned trogonTrogon curucuiArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru
Surucua trogonTrogon surrucurasouth-eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and far north-eastern Argentina and Uruguay
Black-throated trogon or Yellow-bellied TrogonTrogon rufusHonduras south to western Ecuador and northern Argentina.
Elegant trogonTrogon elegansGuatemala in the south as far north as the upper Gila River in Arizona and New Mexico.
Mountain trogonTrogon mexicanusGuatemala, Honduras, and Mexico and has occurred in El Salvador
Collared trogonTrogon collarisnorthern Colombia, northern Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.
Masked trogonTrogon personatusthe Andes