NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Tockus leucomelas (M. H. K. Lichtenstein, 1842)
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.
Male Southern yellow-billed hornbill in Etosha National Park, Namibia
Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The southern yellow-billed hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) is a hornbill found in southern Africa. Yellow-billed hornbills feed mainly on the ground, where they forage for seeds, small insects, spiders and scorpions. This hornbill species is a common and widespread resident of dry thornveldt and broad-leafed woodlands. They can often be seen along roads and water courses.
Wikipedia contributors, Southern yellow-billed hornbill; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:18:40.975685+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Tockus leucomelas (M. H. K. Lichtenstein, 1842)
- Name authority
- (M. H. K. Lichtenstein, 1842)
- Common name
- Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Bucerotiformes
- Family
- Bucerotidae
- Genus
- Tockus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderBucerotiformes
- familyBucerotidae
- genusTockus R. Lesson, 1830
- speciesTockus leucomelas (M. H. K. Lichtenstein, 1842)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Tockus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Jackson's HornbillTockus jacksoni (Ogilvie-Grant, 1891) | BucerotidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Northern Red-billed HornbillTockus erythrorhynchus (Temminck, 1823) | BucerotidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Von der Decken's HornbillTockus deckeni (Cabanis, 1868) | BucerotidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western Red-billed HornbillTockus kempi Tréca & Érard, 2000 | BucerotidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=554408 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.
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:7CFP4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.