Hydrornis

Taxonomy

The pittas were at one time all usually placed in the genus Pitta, the only genus in the family Pittidae, but when a 2006 molecular phylogenetic study found that the pittas formed three separate groups, the genus was split and some species were moved into two resurrected genera, Erythropitta and Hydrornis. The genus Hydrornis had been introduced by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1843 with the blue-naped pitta (Hydrornis nipalensis) as the type species. The name Hydrornis combines the Ancient Greek words hudōr "water" and ornis "bird".

The pittas in Hydrornis have sexually dimorphic plumage, a feature that is absent for all other pittas. Also for those species that have been studied, the juveniles have a spotted cryptic plumage.