Editing Pitta (section)

==Taxonomy and systematics==
[[File:Pitta oatesi female - Mae Wong.jpg|thumb|alt= stout dull coloured bird hunched over mossy rock|The [[rusty-naped pitta]] was once placed in the genus ''Pitta'' but is now in ''Hydrornis''.]]

The first pitta to be described scientifically was the [[Indian pitta]], which was described and illustrated by [[George Edwards (naturalist)|George Edwards]] in 1764.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Edwards | first=George | year=1764 | title=Gleanings of Natural History, Exhibiting Figures of Quadrupeds, Birds, Insects, Plants &c | volume=3 | location=London | publisher=Printed for the author | page=242, Plate 324 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50176497 }}</ref> [[Carl Linnaeus]] included the species in his revised [[12th edition of Systema Naturae|12th edition]] (1766–1768) of the ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' based on Edwards' descriptions and illustrations as well as other accounts, placing it with the [[Corvidae]] as ''Corvus brachyurus''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title=Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=12th | volume=1, Part 1 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=la | page=158 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946354 }}</ref> Ten years later [[Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller|Statius Müller]] moved it and three other pittas to the thrush family [[Turdidae]] and the genus ''[[Turdus]]'', due to similarities of morphology and behaviour.{{sfn|Erritzoe|Erritzoe|1998|pp=14, 132}} In 1816 [[Louis Pierre Vieillot]] moved it to the new genus ''Pitta''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9745205x/f48.image|title=Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire|last=Vieillot|first=Louis Pierre|publisher=Deterville/self|year=1816|location=Paris|page=42, Num. 137|language=fr|author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot}}<!--BHL has a scan of an 1883 reprint - same pagination http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12830237 --></ref> The name is derived from the word ''pitta'' in the [[Telugu language]] of [[South India]] meaning "small bird".<ref name=whistler>{{cite book|author=Whistler, H. |title=Popular Handbook of Indian Birds |edition=4th|pages=[https://archive.org/details/popularhandbooko033226mbp/page/n322 275]–277|publisher=Gurney and Jackson|year=1949|url=https://archive.org/details/popularhandbooko033226mbp}}</ref>

The family's closest relatives have for a long time been assumed to be the other [[suboscine]] birds (suborder [[Tyranni]]), and particularly the Old World suboscines; the&nbsp;[[Eurylaimidae|broadbills]], [[asity|asities]] and the New World [[sapayoa]]. These [[arboreal]] relatives were formerly treated as two families, and are now either combined into a single taxon or split into four. A 2006 study confirmed that these were indeed the closest relatives of the pittas.<ref name ="Irestedt">{{cite journal|url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.72ab64ef10e51a5c8f4800047/Irestedt+et+al+OW+suboscines.pdf|author=Irestedt, M.|author2=Ohlson, J.I.|author3=Zuccon, D.|author4=Källersjö, M.|author5=Ericson, P.G.P.|name-list-style=amp|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|access-date=2011-01-22|archive-date=2020-02-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223013814/https://www.nrm.se/download/18.72ab64ef10e51a5c8f4800047/Irestedt+et+al+OW+suboscines.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[clade]] they form, the [[Eurylaimides]], is one of the two infraorders of suboscines, which is one of three suborders of the [[passerine]] birds. With regards to their relationship within the Eurylaimides, another 2006 study placed the pittas as a sister clade to two clades of broadbills and asities. This same study postulated an Asian origin for the Eurylaimides and therefore the pittas.<ref name="Moyle 2006">{{cite journal |last1=Moyle |first1=Robert G. |last2=Chesser |first2=R Terry |last3=Prum |first3=Richard O. |last4=Schikler |first4=Peter |last5=Cracraft |first5=Joel |title=Phylogeny and evolutionary history of Old World suboscine birds (Aves: Eurylaimides) |journal=American Museum Novitates |date=2006 |issue=3544 |pages=1 |doi=10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3544[1:PAEHOO]2.0.CO;2 |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/5822/N3544.pdf?sequence=1|citeseerx=10.1.1.331.7073 |hdl=2246/5822 |s2cid=15871486 }}</ref>
{{Cladogram|caption=Phylogeny of the Eurylaimides, showing the relationship of the pittas (Pittidae), based on Selvatti ''et al'', 2016
|clades={{clade |style=font-size:85%; line-height:85%;
|1={{clade
 |1={{clade
  |1={{clade
   |1=[[Pittidae]] (pittas)
   |2=[[Calyptomenidae]] (green and African broadbills)}}
  |2={{clade
   |1=[[Eurylaimidae]] (broadbills)
   |2=[[Philepittidae]] (asities) }} }}
 |2=[[Sapayoidae]] (sapayoa) }} }}
}}
Two DNA studies, from 2015 and 2016, came to a different conclusion, finding that the Eurylaimides were divided into two clades and that the pittas formed a clade with the broadbills of the genera ''[[Smithornis]] '' and ''[[Calyptomena]]'', with the remaining broadbills and asities in the other clade.<ref name="Prum">{{cite journal |last1=Prum |first1=Richard O. |last2=Berv |first2=Jacob S. |last3=Dornburg |first3=Alex |last4=Field |first4=Daniel J. |last5=Townsend |first5=Jeffrey P. |last6=Lemmon |first6=Emily Moriarty |last7=Lemmon |first7=Alan R. |title=A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing |journal=Nature |date=2015 |volume=526 |issue=7607 |pages=569–573 |doi=10.1038/nature19417|bibcode=2015Natur.526..569P |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Selvatti"/> The 2016 study also disputed the earlier claims about the origin of the group, and concluded that the most likely ancestral home of the pittas and the Eurylaimides was Africa (the sapayoa having diverged before the core clades had reached Africa). The study found that the pittas diverged from the ''Smithornis'' and ''Calyptomena'' broadbills 24 to 30 million years ago, during the [[Oligocene]]. The pittas diverged and spread through Asia before the [[oscine]]s (suborder Passeri) reached the Old World from Australia.<ref name="Selvatti">{{cite journal |last1=Selvatti |first1=Alexandre Pedro |last2=Galvão |first2=Ana |last3=Pereira |first3=Anieli Guirro |last4=Pedreira Gonzaga |first4=Luiz |last5=Russo |first5=Claudia Augusta de Moraes |title=An African origin of the Eurylaimides (Passeriformes) and the successful diversification of the ground-foraging Pittas (Pittidae) |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |date=2016 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=483–499 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msw250 |pmid=28069777 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The number of pitta genera has varied considerably since Vieillot, ranging from one to as many as nine. In his 1863 work ''A Monograph of the Pittidae'', [[Daniel Giraud Elliot|Daniel Elliot]] split the pittas into two genera, ''Pitta'' for the species with comparatively long tails and (the now abandoned) ''Brachyurus'' for the shorter-tailed species. Barely two decades later, in 1880/81, [[John Gould]] split the family into nine genera, in which he also included the [[lesser melampitta]] (in the genus ''[[Melampitta]]'') of New Guinea, where it was kept until 1931 when [[Ernst Mayr]] demonstrated that it had the [[Syrinx (bird anatomy)|syrinx]] of an oscine bird.<ref name="Mayr">{{cite journal |last1=Mayr|first1=Ernst|title=Die Syrinx einiger Singvögel aus Neu-Guinea|journal=Journal für Ornithologie |date=1931 |volume=79 |issue=3|pages=333–337|doi=10.1007/bf01953006|bibcode=1931JOrni..79..333M |s2cid=26905688|url=http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Journal-fuer-Ornithologie_79_1931_0333-0337.pdf|language=de}}</ref>  [[Philip Sclater]]'s ''Catalogue of the Birds of the British Museum'' (1888) brought the number back down to four – ''Anthocincla'', ''Pitta'', ''Eucichla'', and ''Coracopitta''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8327774|title=Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Volume 14|publisher=British Museum|year=1888|volume=14 |place=London|page=412}}</ref><ref name="HBW" /> Elliot's 1895 ''Monograph of the Pittidae'' included three genera split into subgenera ''Anthocincla'', ''Pitta'' (subgenera ''Calopitta'', ''Leucopitta'', ''Gigantipitta'', ''Hydrornis'', ''Coloburis'', ''Cervinipitta'', ''Purpureipitta'', ''Phaenicocichla'', ''Monilipitta'', ''Erythropitta'', ''Cyanopitta'', ''Galeripitta'', ''Pulchripitta'', ''Iridipitta''), and ''Eucichla'' (subgenera ''Ornatipitta'', ''Insignipitta'').<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/mobot31753003757603/page/n3|title=Monograph of the Pittidae, or the family of ant-thrushes|author=Elliot, Daniel Giraud|publisher=Bernard Quaritch|year=1895|place=London}}</ref>

{{Cladogram|caption=Phylogeny of the family Pittidae, based on Selvatti ''et al'', 2016
|clades={{clade |style=font-size:85%; line-height:85%;
|1={{clade
 |1={{clade
  |1=''[[Pitta (genus)|Pitta]]''
  |2=''[[Erythropitta]]'' }}
 |2=''[[Hydrornis]]'' }} }}
}}
Modern treatments of taxa within the family 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.<ref name = "HBW book">{{Cite book | first = J. | last = Erritzoe | editor-last = Josep | editor-first = del Hoyo | editor2-last = Andrew | editor2-first = Elliott | editor3-last = David | editor3-first = Christie | contribution = Family Pittidae (Pittas) | title = Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8, Broadbills to Tapaculos | year = 2003 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/106 106–127] | place = Barcelona | publisher = Lynx Edicions | isbn = 978-84-87334-50-4 | title-link = Handbook of the Birds of the World }}</ref> Writing in 1998, Johannes Erritzoe stated that most contemporary authors considered the family to contain a single genus.{{sfn|Erritzoe|Erritzoe|1998|p=14}} Before 2006 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 had relied mostly on external features and appearances.<ref name ="Irestedt"/>

[[File:Hydrornis irena - Sri Phang Nga.jpg|thumb|alt= Stout bird with bright yellow stripe on head and blue breast stands on mossy rock|In 2010 the banded pitta was split into three species, making this male a [[Malayan banded pitta]].]]

A 2006 study of the nuclear [[DNA]] of the pittas was the first to examine most representatives of the family, and found evidence of three major clades of pitta. Based on the study the pittas were split into three genera. The first clade, using the genus name ''Erythropitta'', included six species that had previously been considered closely related based 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.<ref name ="Irestedt"/> The second genus, ''Hydrornis'', includes variable Asian 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). This genus includes the [[eared pitta]], which had often been placed into its own genus, ''Anthocincla'', on account of its apparently primitive characteristics. The third genus, ''Pitta'', is the most widespread. 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 pitta species, and it is thought that many of the pitta species from islands are derived from migratory species.<ref name ="Irestedt"/> This division of the pittas into three genera has been adopted by the [[International Ornithological Congress]]' (IOC) ''[[Birds of the World: Recommended English Names]]'',<ref name="IOC">{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=NZ wrens, broadbills, pittas | work=World Bird List Version 8.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/nz_wrens/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=12 January 2019 }}</ref> the ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'''s HBW Alive checklist, and the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (which follows the HBW Alive checklist).<ref name="IUCN"/>

As with genera, there has been considerable variation in the number of accepted pitta species. The checklists of Sclater and Elliot at the end of the 19th century contained 48 and 47 species respectively. More recent checklists have had fewer than this, one from 1975 listing just 24 species. Since the 1990s, the figure has been between 30 and 32 species; the 2003 ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' recognised 30. One species not recognised by the handbook is the [[black-crowned pitta]], which it treated as a [[subspecies]] of either the [[garnet pitta]] or the [[graceful pitta]].<ref name = "HBW"/> Since the publication of the handbook, further splits to pitta species have been made; in 2010 the [[banded pittas|banded pitta]] was split into three species, one [[Endemism|endemic]] to Java and Bali, one endemic to Borneo and one found in Sumatra and the [[Malay Peninsula|Thai-Malay Peninsula]].<ref name="Rheindt">{{cite journal|last=Rheindt|first=Frank|author2=James Easton |title=Biological species limits in the Banded Pitta ''Pitta guajana''|journal=Forktail|year=2010|volume=26|pages=86–91|url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274387758 }}</ref> A 2013 study found that the [[red-bellied pitta]], a widespread species found from Sulawesi to Australia, was actually a [[species complex]]. The study divided it into 17 new species;<ref name="Irestedt 2013">{{cite journal|last1=Irestedt|first1=M.|last2=Fabre|first2=P.|last3=Batalha-Filho |first3=H. |last4=Jønsson |first4=K. |last5=Roselaar|first5=C.|last6=Sangster|first6=G.|last7=Ericson|first7=P.|title=The spatio-temporal colonization and diversification across the Indo-Pacific by a 'great speciator' (Aves, ''Erythropitta erythrogaster'') |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |date=2013 |volume=280 |issue=1759 |pages=20130309|doi=10.1098/rspb.2013.0309|pmid=23554394|pmc=3619518}}</ref> some authorities have recognised fewer, for example the IOC have recognised only 10.<ref name="IOC"/>