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Bycanistes is a genus of medium to large, primarily frugivorous hornbills (family Bucerotidae) found in the forests and woodlands of Sub-Saharan Africa. They have often been included in the genus Ceratogymna, but today most authorities consider them separate. All species in this genus have black and white plumage. The plumage of the sexes is similar, but the casque of the male is larger than that of the female.
Recent genetic data shows that Bycanistes is the sister taxon to Bucorvidae, this clade having diverged from the rest of the hornbill lineage early on.Woodruff, D. S. & Srikwan, S. 2011. Molecular genetics and the conservation of hornbills in fragmented landscapes. In Poonswad, P. (ed) The Asian Hornbills: Ecology and Conservation. National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Bangkok, pp. 257-264. Bycanistes is thought to represent an early African lineage, while the remaining Bucerotiformes evolved in Asia.
| Senegal east to Uganda and south to Angola |
| Burundi, Mozambique, Botswana, Congo, Kenya, the Caprivi strip of Namibia and eastern South Africa |
| Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo |
| Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda |
| western Kenya to Côte d'Ivoire with an isolated population in north Angola |
| forests of East Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa |
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