Tockus

The genus Tockus was introduced in 1830 by the French naturalist René Lesson. He listed three species in his new genus but did not specify a type species.^[2] In 1840 the English zoologist George Gray selected the type as Buceros erythrorhynchus, the northern red-billed hornbill.^[3][4] The genus name is derived from a word used by local people in Senegal for a hornbill.^[5][6]

Hornbills in the genus Tockus are medium-sized African birds with triangular shaped curved bills. They can be found in tropical and sub-tropical African grasslands, forests and savannahs. They all have long tail feathers which are black on the exterior and white on the interior.

The genus contains the following ten species:^[7]

• Tanzanian red-billed hornbill, Tockus ruahae – central Tanzania
• Western red-billed hornbill, Tockus kempi – Senegal and Gambia to south Mauritania and west Mali
• Damara red-billed hornbill, Tockus damarensis – southwest Angola, north Namibia and west Botswana
• Southern red-billed hornbill, Tockus rufirostris – Malawi and Zambia to south Angola and Transvaal
• Northern red-billed hornbill, Tockus erythrorhynchus – south Mauritania through Somalia to northeast Tanzania
• Monteiro's hornbill, Tockus monteiri – southwest Angola to central Namibia
• Von der Decken's hornbill, Tockus deckeni – Ethiopia and Somalia to central Tanzania
• Jackson's hornbill, Tockus jacksoni – south South Sudan, southwest Ethiopia, northeast Uganda and west Kenya
• Southern yellow-billed hornbill, Tockus leucomelas – south
• Eastern yellow-billed hornbill, Tockus flavirostris – Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia to north Tanzania