Quetzal Quetzal Quetzals () are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family. They are found in forests, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus "Pharomachrus" being exclusively Neotropical, while a single species, the eared quetzal, "Euptilotis neoxenus", is found in Mexico and very locally in the southernmost United States. Quetzals are fairly large (all over 32 cm or 13 inches long), slightly bigger than other trogon species. The quetzal is the country bird of Guatemala. Quetzals have iridescent green or golden-green wing coverts, back, chest and head, with a red belly. They are strongly sexually dimorphic, and
Resplendent quetzal country's currency, the Guatemalan quetzal (abbreviation GTQ). The resplendent quetzal was first described by Mexican naturalist Pablo de La Llave in 1832. It is one of five species of the genus "Pharomachrus" known as quetzals. The term "quetzal" was originally used for just this species, but is now applied to all members of the genera "Pharomachrus" and "Euptilotis". Two subspecies are recognised, "P. m. mocinno" and "P. m. costaricensis". The epithet "mocinno" is Llave's Latinization of the name of the biologist J. M. Mociño, a mentor of his. (It is sometimes spelled "mocino", but "ñ" was formerly spelled "nn" in