Black-throated Trogon is five species
BLACK-THROATED Trogon is a widespread species occurring throughout much of Central and South America, where it is commonly found in lowland forest and second growth. Current global taxonomies are unanimous in treating it as a single polytypic species with six subspecies; however, a recent study suggests that multiple species may be involved.
Combining morphological, bioacoustic and molecular data, Dickens et al (2021) conclude that four of the current subspecies should be elevated to full species level, while a hitherto unnamed taxon in the Atlantic Forest of north-east Brazil also deserves species status.
The five proposed species are: Graceful Black-throated Trogon Trogon tenellus from Central America and north-western Colombia; Kerr’s Black-throated Trogon Trogon cupreicauda endemic to western Colombia and north-west Ecuador; Amazonian Black-throated Trogon Trogon rufus, with a typically Amazonian distribution; Southern Black-throated Trogon Trogon chrysochloros, an Atlantic Forest endemic, from Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and west to north-east Argentina and east Paraguay; and Alagoas Black-throated Trogon Trogon muriciensis, a species confined to Estação Ecológica de Murici, Alagoa, Brazil. Alex Berryman