Green Kingfisher - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Variation in this species is clinal. There are five subspecies:

• americana occupying northern South America east of the Andes, south to Bolivia and Brazil
• mathewsii occupying the area south of americana, to north Argentina
• hachisukai occurring from the southwestern United States to Mexico, where it merges into the next subspecies
• septentrionalis occurring from Mexico to Venezuela, where it merges with americana
• cabanisii occurring in north Chile and Peru into west Ecuador and Colombia, where it merges with americana

Birds occurring on Trinidad and Tobago, usually included in americana, have a larger and heavier bill than the mainland forms, and are sometimes separated as subspecies croteta.