The great jacamar (Jacamerops aureus) is a species of bird in the family Galbulidae.

[2] It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, where its natural habitat is subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests.

Like all members of the order Piciformes, jacamars and their relatives have zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward and two facing back.

Jacamars evolved with this toe arrangement, which helps them grasp branches while hunting in trees.

[5] Because 13 of the 17 Galbulidae species belong to super-species complexes, researcher J. Haffer concludes that jacamars had a relatively recent Pleistocene radiation of the family.

Jacamars are believed to have originated in the Amazon region where they are most common, and spread to other parts of Central and South America.

It lives in the middle levels of the canopy and inside the shaded edges of the rainforest,[7] usually on the banks of streams.