Bismarck pitta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bismarck pitta
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pittidae
Genus: Erythropitta
Species:
E. novaehibernicae
Binomial name
Erythropitta novaehibernicae
(EP Ramsay, 1878)
Synonyms

Erythropitta erythrogaster novaehibernicae

The Bismarck pitta or New Ireland pitta (Erythropitta novaehibernicae) is a species of pitta. It was formerly considered conspecific with the red-bellied pitta. It is endemic to the Bismarck Archipelago in Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Taxonomy[edit]

The Bismarck pitta was formally described in 1878 by the Australian zoologist Edward Pierson Ramsay from a specimen that had been collected on the island of New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago. He placed it in the genus Pitta' and coined the binomial name Pitta novaehibernicae.[2][3] The Bismarck pitta is now placed in the genus Erythropitta that was introduced 1854 in by Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[4]

Four subspecies are recognised:[4]

  • E. n. novaehibernicae (Ramsay, EP, 1878) – New Ireland (and probably Dyaul; northeast Bismarck Archipelago)
  • E. n. extima (Mayr, 1955) – New Hanover Island (=New Hanover, central north Bismarck Archipelago)
  • E. n. splendida (Mayr, 1955) – Tambar (north of central New Ireland, northeast Bismarck Archipelago, sometimes treated as a separate species, the Tabar pitta)
  • E. n. gazellae (Neumann, 1908) – New Britain and satellites from Tolokiwa to Duke of York (southeast Bismarck Archipelago, sometimes treated as a separate species, the New Britain pitta)

References[edit]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2017). "Erythropitta novaehibernicae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T103656476A112307950. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T103656476A112307950.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. ^ Ramsay, Edward Pierson (1878). "Description of five new species of new birds, from Torres Straits and New Guinea etc". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 3: 72-75 [73].
  3. ^ Traylor, Melvin A. Jr, ed. (1979). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 8. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 319.
  4. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "NZ wrens, broadbills & pittas". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 February 2024.