Ramphastos ambiguus occurs as three subspecies in Central America and South America. Subspecies
swainsonii occurs through Central America from south-east
Honduras and
Nicaragua. In
Costa Rica, the taxon occurs in Corcovado National Park and Braulio Carrillo National Park. Its range extends through
Panama and west
Colombia, where it is limited in the east by the Cauca Valley having been extirpated from the Magdalena Valley. It continues west of the Andes as far as El Oro, south-west
Ecuador (del Hoyo
et al. 2002). Here it is apparently uncommon and has undergone a marked decline, although a sizeable population persists at Esmeraldas
(del Hoyo
et al. 2002, Restall
et al. 2006). Subspecies
abbrevianus occurs in north-east Colombia and northern
Venezuela, possibly disjunctly (del Hoyo
et al. 2002). It is scarce and local in the latter, with most records from Sierra de Perijá and the Andes
(del Hoyo
et al. 2002, Hilty 2003, Restall
et al. 2006). The nominate subspecies
ambiguus occurs east of the Andes from south-west Colombia through east Ecuador, where it is rare (del Hoyo
et al. 2002, Restall
et al. 2006). It is also uncommon in
Peru, where its distribution reaches Junín (del Hoyo
et al. 2002).
Rights Holder: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
Bibliographic Citation: BirdLife International 2014.
Ramphastos ambiguus. In: IUCN 2014 . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1 . <
www.iucnredlist.org>
