The white-crested hornbill (Tropicranus albocristatus), also known as the long-tailed hornbill, is a species of hornbill (family Bucerotidae) found in humid forests of Central and West Africa. It is monotypic within the genusTropicranus, but is sometimes included in the genus Tockusinstead.
Taxonomy[]
There are three subspecies, which differ primarily in the amount of white to their head and neck and the presence or absence of white tips to the wing-coverts:
- Tropicranus albocristatus albocristatus (Cassin, 1848) – Guinea to the Ivory Coast.
- Tropicranus albocristatus cassini (Finsch, 1903) – from Nigeria east to Uganda and south to Angola.
- Tropicranus albocristatus macrourus (Bonaparte, 1850) – Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Range[]
The white-crested hornbill has a large range in Africa, occurring in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Uganda. It is frequent in parts of its range. Although its population is difficult to estimate, it is not thought to be threatened.