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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Great Hornbill

Buceros bicornis Linnaeus, 1758

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Open encyclopedia reference

The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis), also known as the concave-casqued hornbill, great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family. It occurs in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is predominantly frugivorous, but also preys on small mammals, reptiles, and birds. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2018. It is known to have lived for nearly 50 years in captivity. Due to its large size and colour, and importance in many tribal cultures and rituals, the Government of Kerala declared it as the official Kerala state bird. It is also the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh.

Wikipedia contributors, Great hornbill; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:02:57.931691+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Buceros bicornis Linnaeus, 1758
Name authority
Linnaeus, 1758
Common name
Great Hornbill
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Aves
Order
Bucerotiformes
Family
Bucerotidae
Genus
Buceros
Extinction status
Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classAves
  9. orderBucerotiformes
  10. familyBucerotidae
  11. genusBuceros Linnaeus, 1758
  12. speciesBuceros bicornis Linnaeus, 1758

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Buceros. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Northern Rufous HornbillBuceros hydrocorax Linnaeus, 1766BucerotidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 41 records assigned to Bucerotidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Southern Asia

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=554426 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:5WSHC. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.