Banded Pitta

Banded Pitta
male
nominate subspecies
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pittidae
Genus: Pitta
Species: P. guajana
Binomial name
Pitta guajana
(Müller, 1776)

The Banded Pitta, Pitta guajana, is a species of bird in the Pittidae family. It is found in forest in the Thai-Malay Peninsula and the Greater Sundas (except Sulawesi).

It includes four subspecies, which can be divided into three main groups: The nominate subspecies from Java and Bali has a yellow eyebrow, underparts that are densely barred in yellowish and blackish-blue and a narrow blue band on the upper chest, irena and ripleyi from the Thai-Malay Peninsula and Sumatra have a more orange eyebrow, a blue belly and a chest that is barred orange and dark bluish (more orange towards the sides; blue towards the center), and schwaneri from Borneo has a blue mid-belly and yellow flanks and chest densely barred with blackish. Females of all subspecies are significantly duller than the males. There are also vocal differences between these, and it has been suggeted they are better treated as three separate species.

References