Bismarck pitta
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
| Bismarck pitta | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| 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 | |
Taxonomy
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)
