Pitta - Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy and Systematics

Pittas were first described scientifically by Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in his revised 12th edition of the Systema Naturae. He placed the Indian Pitta in the crow family and genus Corvus. Ten years later it was placed in the thrush family, due to similarities of morphology and behaviour, before being placed in its own genus, Pitta in 1816 by Louis Vieillot. Vieillot was also the first to consider the genus a family in its own right. The family's closest relatives have for a long time assumed to be the other suboscine birds, and particularly the Old World broadbills and asities (formerly treated as two families, now either lumped into one or split into four). A 2006 study confirmed that these were the closest relatives of the pittas.

The number of pitta genera has varied considerably, ranging from one to as many as nine. In his 1863 work A Monograph of the Pittidae Daniel Elliot split the pittas into two genera, Pitta for the species with comparatively long tails and Brachyurus for the shorter tailed species. Barely two decades later, in 1880/81, John Gould split the family into nine genera, to which he also included the Lesser Melampitta (Melampitta), a species which despite uncertain affinities is now at least no longer considered related to the pittas. Soon afterwards Philip Sclater's Catalogue of the Birds of the British Museum brought the number back down to three. Modern treatments vary as well. A 1975 checklist included six genera, whereas the 2003 volume of the Handbook of the Birds of the World, which covered the family, placed all the pittas in a single genus. The family was not well studied using modern anatomical or phylogenetic techniques; two studies, in 1987 and 1990, each used only four species, and comparisons amongst the family as a whole have relied mostly on external features and appearances.

A 2009 study of the nuclear DNA of the pittas, using study skins from museums, was the first to examine most representatives of the family, and found evidence of three major clades of pitta. Based on the study it proposed splitting the pittas into three genera. The first clade, using the genus name Erythropitta, includes six species that had previously been considered closely related on external features. They are all generally small species with small tails, extensive amounts of crimson or red on the underparts, and greenish or blueish backs. The second genus, Hydrornis, includes a number of variable Oriental species. These species are unified morphologically in exhibiting sexual dimorphism in their plumage, as well as in possessing cryptic juvenile plumage (in all the species thus far studied). Into this second clade is included the Eared Pitta, which had often been placed into its own genus, Anthocincla, on account of its apparent primitive characteristics. The final genus, Pitta, is the most widespread clade. Most species in this genus have green upperparts with a blue wing-patch, dark upperparts and cinnamon-buff underparts. This clade contains all the migratory species of pitta, and it is thought that many of the pitta species from islands are derived from migratory species. This division of the pittas into three genera has been adopted by the International Ornithological Congress' Birds of the World: Recommended English Names.

As with genera, there has been considerable variation in the number of recorded pitta species. The checklists of Sclater and Elliot at the end of the 19th century contained 48 and 47 species each. More recent checklists have had fewer than this, one listing just 24 species. Since the 1990s the figure has been between 30 and 32 species; the Handbook of the Birds of the World recognises 30. Two potential species not recognised by the Handbook include the Black-crowned Pitta, which is treated as a subspecies of either the Garnet Pitta or the Graceful Pitta, and the Sula Pitta, which can be treated as a subspecies of the Red-bellied Pitta. More recently the Banded Pitta has been split into three new species, one endemic to Java and Bali, one endemic to Borneo and one found in Sumatra and the Thai-Malay Peninsula.

  • Genus: Hydrornis
    • Eared Pitta, Hydrornis phayrei
    • Blue-naped Pitta, Hydrornis nipalensis
    • Blue-rumped Pitta, Hydrornis soror
    • Rusty-naped Pitta, Hydrornis oatesi
    • Schneider's Pitta, Hydrornis schneideri
    • Giant Pitta, Hydrornis caerulea
    • Blue-headed Pitta, Hydrornis baudii
    • Blue Pitta, Hydrornis cyanea
    • Bar-bellied Pitta, Hydrornis elliotii
    • Banded Pitta, Hydrornis guajana
      • Javan Banded Pitta, Hydrornis (guajana) guajana
      • Malayan Banded Pitta, Hydrornis (guajana) irena
      • Bornean Banded Pitta, Hydrornis (guajana) schwaneri
    • Gurney's Pitta, Hydrornis gurneyi
  • Genus: Erythropitta
    • Whiskered Pitta, Erythropitta kochi
    • Red-bellied Pitta, Erythropitta erythrogaster
    • Blue-banded Pitta, Erythropitta arquata
    • Garnet Pitta, Erythropitta granatina
    • Graceful Pitta, Erythropitta venusta
    • Black-headed Pitta, Erythropitta ussheri
  • Genus: Pitta
    • Hooded Pitta, Pitta sordida
    • Ivory-breasted Pitta, Pitta maxima
    • Superb Pitta, Pitta superba
    • Azure-breasted Pitta, Pitta steerii
    • Sula Pitta, Pitta dohertyi
    • African Pitta, Pitta angolensis
    • Green-breasted Pitta, Pitta reichenowi
    • Indian Pitta, Pitta brachyura
    • Fairy Pitta, Pitta nympha
    • Blue-winged Pitta, Pitta moluccensis
    • Mangrove Pitta, Pitta megarhyncha
    • Elegant Pitta, Pitta elegans
    • Noisy Pitta, Pitta versicolor
    • Black-faced Pitta, Pitta anerythra
    • Rainbow Pitta, Pitta iris

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