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[[Image:RedneckedAracari.JPG]]

'''Common Name:''' Red-necked Aracari<br>
'''Scientific Name:''' Pteroglossus bitorquatus
'''
Size:''' 14 inches (36 cm)

'''Habitat:''' South America. It occurs in east-central South America, restricted to the area south of the Amazon. Subspecies ''sturmii'' has a distribution bounded by Rio Madeira and Rio Tapajós, Brazil, to the west and east respectively, and ranges south as far as the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso. It reaches Bolivia, where it is present in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park. Subspecies reichenowi occurs in Brazil between Rio Tapajós and Rio Tocantins, south as far as north Mato Grosso. The nominate subspecies ''bitorquatus'' is also limited to Brazil, with a range encompassing Marajó Island and the area between Rio Tocantins in the west, and Maranhão in the east.

This species inhabits moist tropical forest, gallery forest and some "cerrado" (dry savanna woodland) up to c.550 m, and appears to show some tolerance of secondary habitat.

'''Status:''' Near Threatened. '''Global Population:''' The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as 'fairly common'. 

Although the species shows some tolerance of habitat fragmentation and degradation, the extent of projected deforestation in its known range is sufficient to pose a threat. 

Proposed changes to the Brazilian Forest Code reduce the percentage of land a private landowner is legally required to maintain as forest (including, critically, a reduction in the width of forest buffers alongside perennial steams) and include an amnesty for landowners who deforested before July 2008 (who would subsequently be absolved of the need to reforest illegally cleared land). This species is suspected to lose 35.4-47% of suitable habitat within its distribution over three generations (21 years) based on a model of Amazonian deforestation (Soares-Filho et al. 2006, Bird et al. 2011). 

'''Diet:''' Fruits, insects, frogs, lizards and bird eggs.

'''Nesting:'''  Both sexes are basically alike but female has little to no black at the rear of the throat; crown more brown, less black or none; yellow band on breast narrower; bill shorter. Immature birds are browner overall and lack vivid coloration. This species has a relatively long tail.

'''Cool Facts:''' Despite the obvious plumage similarities between this species and the Ivory-billed Aracari (''Pteroglossus azara''), the Red-necked Aracari is speculated to be more closely related to the Green Aracari (''Pteroglossus viridis'') and the Lettered Aracari (''Pteroglossus inscriptus'').