Erythropitta

Erythropitta
Black-crowned pitta, Erythropitta ussheri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pittidae
Genus: Erythropitta
Bonaparte, 1854
Species

See text.

Black-crowned pitta (E. ussheri) uttering whistles from a perch in Danum Valley, Sabah

Erythropitta is a genus of birds in the pitta family Pittidae. The members of the genus are found mostly in Southeast Asia, with one species, the Papuan pitta, ranging into northeast Australia. The genus was formerly merged with the large genus Pitta, but based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2006, the family Pittidae has been split into three genera.

Taxonomy

The pittas were at one time all usually placed in the genus Pitta, the only genus in the family Pittidae, but when a 2006 molecular phylogenetic study found that the pittas formed three separate groups, the genus was split and some species were moved into two resurrected genera, Erythropitta and Hydrornis. The genus Erythropitta had been introduced in 1854 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. The type species was subsequently designated as the Papuan pitta (Erythropitta macklotii). The name Erythropitta combines the Ancient Greek word eruthros "red" with the genus name Pitta.

Pittas in this genus have red or crimson coloured underparts, greenish or blueish backs and short tails. They are mostly small in size.

Species

The genus contains the following 13 species:

ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Erythropitta kochiWhiskered pittaLuzon in the Philippines.
Erythropitta erythrogasterPhilippine pittaPhilippines.
Erythropitta dohertyiSula pittaSula and Banggai Islands
Erythropitta celebensisSulawesi pittaSulawesi, Manterawu, and Togian Islands
Erythropitta rubrinuchaSouth Moluccan pittaIndonesia on Buru and Seram.
Erythropitta rufiventrisNorth Moluccan pittanorthern Moluccas
Erythropitta meekiLouisiade pittaLouisiade Archipelago in Papua New Guinea
Erythropitta novaehibernicaeBismarck pittaNew Ireland Province in Papua New Guinea
Erythropitta macklotiiPapuan pittaAru Islands, New Guinea
Erythropitta arquataBlue-banded pittaBorneo
Erythropitta granatinaGarnet pittaBrunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand.
Erythropitta venustaGraceful pittaSumatra, Indonesia
Erythropitta ussheriBlack-crowned pittaSabah in northern Borneo

References

  1. 1 2 Irestedt, M.; Ohlson, J.I.; Zuccon, D.; Källersjö, M.; Ericson, P.G.P. (2006). "Nuclear DNA from old collections of avian study skins reveals the evolutionary history of the Old World suboscines (Aves: Passeriformes)" (PDF). Zoologica Scripta. 35 (6): 567–580. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00249.x. S2CID 84788609. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-23. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  2. ↑ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1854). L'Ateneo Italiano; raccolta di documenti e memorie relative al progresso delle scienze fisiche compilato da S. de Luca e D. Müller. Vol. 2. Paris: Masson. p. 317.
  3. ↑ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 144.
  4. ↑ Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "NZ wrens, broadbills & pittas". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 February 2024.