Pitta (genus)
{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Pitta versicolor - Kembla Heights.jpg
| image_caption = Noisy pitta in Australia
| image2 = Blue winged pitta - Pitta moluccensis.ogg
| image2_caption = Call of blue-winged pitta
| taxon = Pitta
| authority = Vieillot, 1816
| type_species = Corvus brachyurus{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=104 |title= Pittidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-24}}
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1766
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
See text.
}}
Pitta is a genus of birds in the Pittidae, or pitta family. They are secretive, brightly coloured birds that forage on the forest floor. They are long-legged and short-tailed with rounded wings.{{cite book |last=Zimmerman |first=Dale A.|title=Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania |year=1999 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691010226 |page=495|display-authors=etal}} They all have green on their upperparts with blue wing-patches. Many have dark heads. Nest construction, incubation and rearing of nestlings is performed by both parents.{{cite book|last=Tarboton |first=Warwick |title=A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds |year=2001 |publisher=Struik |location=Cape Town |isbn=1-86872-616-9 |page=141}} Incubation is completed in some 17 days, and the nestlings are altricial and nidicolous. Some species are migratory.
The antpittas, a Neotropical bird family of some 50 species, resemble the pittas in their hopping gait, furtive behaviour, long legs and short tails.
Taxonomy
The genus Pitta was erected by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.{{cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | title=Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire | publisher=Deterville/self | year=1816 | location=Paris | page =42, Num. 137 | language=French| url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9745205x/f48.image }} In 1855 the English ornithologist George Robert Gray designated the type species as Corvus triostegus Sparrman. This is a junior synonym of Corvus brachyura Linnaeus, the Indian pitta.{{ cite book | last=Gray | first=George Robert | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1855 | title=Catalogue of the genera and subgenera of birds contained in the British Museum | location=London | publisher=British Museum | page=43 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/17136682 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Traylor | editor-first=Melvin A. Jr | author-link=Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. | year=1979 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=8 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=310 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14501087 }} The word Pitta is from the Telugu language and means "pretty", "bauble" or "pet".{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2019 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/pitta | accessdate=5 January 2019 }}
The genus contains 20 species, distributed from Africa, through southern, eastern and south-eastern Asia, to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia. It was formerly the sole genus in the family and contained 31 species. However, following a 2006 study, some of the species were split off into two resurrected genera, Erythropitta and Hydrornis, though all members of the family continue to be known as "pittas".{{cite journal | last1=Irestedt | first1=M. | last2=Ohlson | first2=J.I. | last3=Zuccon | first3=D. | last4=Källersjö | first4=M. | last5=Ericson | first5=P.G.P. | year=2006 | title=Nuclear DNA from old collections of avian study skins reveals the evolutionary history of the Old World suboscines (Aves: Passeriformes) | journal=Zoologica Scripta |volume=35 | issue=6 | pages= 567–580 | doi=10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00249.x | s2cid=84788609 | url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.72ab64ef10e51a5c8f4800047/Irestedt+et+al+OW+suboscines.pdf}}
Species
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120px | Pitta angolensis | African pitta | tropical and subtropical Africa |
| Pitta reichenowi | Green-breasted pitta | tropical Africa | |
| 120px | Pitta brachyura | Indian pitta | Indian subcontinent |
| 120px | Pitta moluccensis | Blue-winged pitta | Australia and Southeast Asia |
| 120px | Pitta megarhyncha | Mangrove pitta | eastern India to western Southeast Asia |
| 120px | Pitta sordida | Western hooded pitta | mainland and maritime Southeast Asia |
| Pitta abbotti | Nicobar hooded pitta | Nicobar Islands | |
| Pitta forsteni | Minahasa hooded pitta | north Sulawesi | |
| 120px | Pitta novaeguineae | Eastern hooded pitta | New Guinea |
| Pitta rosenbergii | Biak hooded pitta | Biak (Cenderawasih Bay islands, northwest New Guinea) | |
| 120px | Pitta nympha | Fairy pitta | East Asia |
| 120px | Pitta versicolor | Noisy pitta | eastern Australia and southern New Guinea |
| 120px | Pitta maxima | Ivory-breasted pitta | North Maluku |
| 120px | Pitta concinna | Ornate pitta | |Lesser Sunda Islands |
| 120px | Pitta elegans | Elegant pitta | Lesser Sunda Islands |
| Pitta vigorsii | Banda Sea pitta | Maluku Islands | |
| Pitta anerythra | Black-faced pitta | western Melanesia | |
| 120px | Pitta steerii | Azure-breasted pitta | Philippines |
| Pitta superba | Superb pitta | Manus Island (north of Papua New Guinea) | |
| 120px | Pitta iris | Rainbow pitta | northern Australia |
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot
Category:Articles containing video clips
{{Pittidae-stub}}