Semnornithidae Toucan-Barbets

These two barbets appear to represent a deep branch in the history of the New World barbets and toucans. They have fewer and finer rictal bristles than most barbets, and the fine tip of the upper bill fits into a tiny notch at the tip of the lower bill. In coloration they are not at all alike, one mostly muted green and the other named for its similarity to a very small multicolored toucan. Like other barbets, these birds eat mostly fruit but supplement their diets with insects and invertebrates, and they nest in tree cavities of their own construction. Their calls are less whistled than those of other New World barbets, throatier and brassier, more like the calls of a small ramphastid than a capitonid.