Erythropitta

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.

Erythropitta
Black-crowned pitta, Erythropitta ussheri
Scientific 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

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.^[1] The genus Erythropitta had been introduced in 1854 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.^[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the Papuan pitta (Erythropitta macklotii).^[3] The name Erythropitta combines the Ancient Greek word eruthros "red" with the genus name Pitta.^[4]

Pittas in this genus have red or crimson coloured underparts, greenish or blueish backs and short tails. They are mostly small in size.^[1]

Species

The genus contains the following 13 species:^[5]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Erythropitta kochi	Whiskered pitta	Luzon in the Philippines.
	Erythropitta erythrogaster	Philippine pitta	Philippines.
	Erythropitta dohertyi	Sula pitta	Sula and Banggai Islands
	Erythropitta celebensis	Sulawesi pitta	Sulawesi, Manterawu, and Togian Islands
	Erythropitta rubrinucha	South Moluccan pitta	Indonesia on Buru and Seram.
	Erythropitta rufiventris	North Moluccan pitta	northern Moluccas
	Erythropitta meeki	Louisiade pitta	Louisiade Archipelago in Papua New Guinea
	Erythropitta novaehibernicae	Bismarck pitta	New Ireland Province in Papua New Guinea
	Erythropitta macklotii	Papuan pitta	Aru Islands, New Guinea
	Erythropitta arquata	Blue-banded pitta	Borneo
	Erythropitta granatina	Garnet pitta	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand.
	Erythropitta venusta	Graceful pitta	Sumatra, Indonesia
	Erythropitta ussheri	Black-crowned pitta	Sabah in northern Borneo