Pitta Species

Ah that, as the English poet Philip Larkin put it, is ‘the question that brings the priest and the doctor in their long coats running over the fields.’ (Admittedly Larkin may not have been specifically talking about pittas, but if he’d spent more time in Asian rainforest and less time in Hull Municipal Library I’m sure he would have been.)

Below is a list of pittas that Lambert and Woodcock’s “Pittas, Broadbills and Asities” accepts as being good species. Notes:

•An asterisk below denotes that The Handbook of the Birds of the World (‘HBW’) Vol 8 (2003) and Erritzoe & Erritzoe (‘Pittas of the World; A Monograph on the Pitta Family” 1998) do not accept the species as a valid taxon, re-lumping it with another pitta species. (If Black-crowned Pitta Pitta ussheri* is not a good species, then it is a race of Garnet Pitta, Pitta granatina ussheri. If Sula Pitta Pitta dohertyi* is not a good species, then it is a race of Red-bellied Pitta, Pitta erythrogaster dohertyi.)

• Irestedt et al have recently suggested that the Pittas should be split into three different clades, classified as follows:

Hydrornis: Eared, Blue-naped, Blue-rumped, Rusty-naped, Schneider’s, Giant, Blue-headed, Banded, Blue, Bar-bellied, Gurney’s

Erythropitta: Whiskered, Red-bellied, Sula, Blue-banded, Garnet, Graceful, Black-crowned

Pitta: African, Green-breasted, Indian, Mangrove, Blue-winged, Hooded, Fairy, Azure-breasted Pitta, Noisy, Ivory-breasted, Elegant, Black-faced, Superb, Rainbow

1. Eared Pitta Pitta phrayrei
2. Blue-naped Pitta Pitta nipalensis
3. Blue-rumped Pitta Pitta soror
4. Rusty-naped Pitta Pitta oatesi
5. Schneider’s Pitta Pitta schneideri
6. Giant Pitta Pitta caerulea
7. Blue Pitta Pitta cyanea
8. Banded Pitta Pitta guajana
9. Bar-bellied Pitta Pitta elliotii
10. Gurney’s Pitta Pitta gurneyi
11. Blue-headed Pitta Pitta baudii
12. Hooded Pitta Pitta sordida
13. Ivory-breasted Pitta Pitta maxima
14. Superb Pitta Pitta superba
15. Azure-breasted Pitta (Steere’s Pitta) Pitta steerii
16. Whiskered Pitta Pitta kochi
17. Red-bellied Pitta (Blue-breasted Pitta) Pitta erythrogaster
18. Sula Pitta Pitta dohertyi*
19. Blue-banded Pitta Pitta arquata
20. Garnet Pitta Pitta granatina
21. Black-crowned Pitta (Black-and-Crimson Pitta/ Black-headed Pitta) Pitta ussheri*
22. Graceful Pitta (Sumatran Pitta) Pitta venusta
23. African Pitta (Angola Pitta) Pitta angolensis
24. Green-breasted Pitta Pitta reichenowi
25. Indian Pitta Pitta brachyura
26. Fairy Pitta Pitta nympha
27. Blue-winged Pitta Pitta moluccensis
28. Mangrove Pitta Pitta megarhyncha
29. Elegant Pitta Pitta elegans
30. Noisy Pitta Pitta versicolor
31. Black-faced Pitta Pitta anerythra
32. Rainbow Pitta Pitta iris

HOW MANY SPECIES OF PITTA ARE THERE?

Possible additional good species:

Banded Pitta: • Frank Rheindt and James Eaton have recently published a paper suggesting that Banded Pitta P. guajana should be split three ways:

Pitta guajana guajana and Pitta guajana affinis become “Javan Banded Pitta”, a Javan endemic)

Pitta guajana irena and Pitta guajana ripleyi (if ripleyi is a valid race which I doubt) become “Malayan Banded Pitta” Thai, Peninsula, Tenasserim, Malaysia, Sumatra)

Pitta guajana schwaneri becomes “Bornean Banded Pitta”, a Bornean endemic)

Elegant Pitta: Pitta elegans

The southeasternmost race P. e. vigorsii has sometimes been regarded as a separate species ‘Double-striped Pitta’ Pitta vigorsii because of its mosaic distribution. Vigorsii occurs in the South Moluccas, and is primarily confined to small islands: E. part of the Lesser Sunda arc (Babar, Damar, Tanimbar) the small islands between Seram and the Kai Islands (Kasiui, Tiur, Kur, Taam, Tual) Watubela (?) Banda (in the Banda sea S. of Seram) and the small island of Kaledupa (in the Tukangbesi Islands, E of Butung) Also Tayandu, Kai? Also possibly on the larger islands of Seram, (rare migrant only?) and Tanimbar (migrant only?) This seems a highly dubious split to me.

Red-bellied Pitta: Sula Pitta is the only split currently accepted from Red-bellied Pitta P. erythrogaster, but even this is not universally agreed, and may well prove not to be the best candidate for full species status. It is likely to be re-lumped with Red-bellied in the not too distant future. P. erythrogaster could conceivably be further split any number of ways! 22-24 subspecies are currently recognised, and many of these are island endemics. Some poorly-known races e.g. P. e. splendida (Tabar Is. East of New Ireland) differ considerably from neighbouring subspecies, and Obi island birds’ (P.e. rufiventris (obiensis) song is apparently a simple ‘foh foh’ i.e. completely unlike any other Red-bellied Pitta in the world! The situation is however complex and requires further investigation by someone with a considerably better grasp of nuclear DNA than I possess.

Red-bellied Pitta P.e. erythrogaster (Philippine Islands (except Palawan group))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. propinqua (SW Philippines (Palawan and Balabac))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. caeruleitorques (Sangihe I. (ne of Sulawesi))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. inspeculata (Talaud Islands)
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. palliceps (Siau and Tahulandang islands (Celebes Sea))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. celebensis (Sulawesi, Manterawu I. and Togian Island)
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. rufiventris (obiensis) (Morotai, Halmahera, Kasiruta, Bacan, Moti, Damar and Obi islands)
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. cyanonota (Ternate I. (North Moluccas)
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. bernsteini (Gebe I. (east of Halmahera)
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. rubrinucha (Buru I. (South Moluccas))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. piroensis (Seram I. (South Moluccas))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. mackloti (W and s New Guinea, w Papuan Is., n and e Cape York Peninsula)
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. habenichti (N New Guinea (Weyland Mts. to Astrolabe Bay))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. aruensis (Aru Islands (off sw New Guinea))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. oblita (Papua New Guinea (upper montane Aroa River region))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. loriae (Extreme se New Guinea (e from Kumusi River and Cloudy Bay))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. extima (New Hanover (Bismarck Archipelago))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. novaehibernicae (New Ireland (Bismarck Archipelago))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. splendida (Tabar I. (East of New Ireland))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. gazellae (S. Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain and adjacent islands))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. finschii (D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Fergusson and Goodenough is.))
Red-bellied Pitta P.e. meeki (Rossel I. (Louisiade Archipelago))

Hooded Pitta: P. sordida The species may be sub-divided into ‘black-crowned’ and ‘chestnut-crowned’ groups, and a number of the 12 recognized races could conceivably be split:
Chestnut-crowned races
Hooded Pitta P.s. cucullata (Foothills of n India to s China (Yunnan) and Indochina)
Hooded Pitta P.s. bangkana (Bangka and Belitung islands (off Borneo))
Hooded Pitta P.s. abbotti (Nicobar Islands)

Black-crowned races
Hooded Pitta P.s. mulleri (Extreme s Thailand, n Malay Pen., Greater Sundas and w Sulu Is.)
Hooded Pitta P.s. sordida (Philippine Islands (except Palawan group))
Hooded Pitta P.s. palawanensis (S Philippines (Palawan, Culion, Balabac, Calauit and Busuanga)
Hooded Pitta P.s. sanghirana (Sangihe I. (ne of Sulawesi)
Hooded Pitta P.s. forsteni (N Sulawesi (Minahassa Peninsula))
Hooded Pitta P.s. novaeguineae (W Papuan islands, New Guinea and Karkar I.)
Hooded Pitta P.s. mefoorana (Numfor I. (off nw New Guinea)
Hooded Pitta P.s. rosenbergii (Biak I. (off nw New Guinea))
Hooded Pitta P.s. goodfellowi (Aru Islands (off s New Guinea)