This species’ very similar plumage to the wholly allopatric Red-necked Aracari (Pteroglossus bitorquatus), which is only distributed east of Brazil’s Rio Madeira, suggests a close relationship between them, but instead the latter species is usually considered to be more closely related to the Green Aracari (Pteroglossus viridis) group of taxa. Like the Red-necked Aracari, the Ivory-billed Aracari’s three constituent subspecies have occasionally all been viewed at species level, but all three interbreed in their respective zones of overlap, a factor generally afforded high significance in toucan taxonomy. The Ivory-billed Aracari ranges over western Amazonia, where it inhabits both terra firme and seasonally flooded forests as far as the east-slope foothills of the Andes, from southeast Colombia south to north-central Bolivia, and east as far as the Rio Madeira. The species forages alone, in pairs, or in small groups of up to five, and takes a variety of fruits, especially Ficus figs and Cecropia catkins, but also catches flying insects.