The Malayan banded pitta (''Hydrornis irena'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family Pittidae. Other common names include the blue-tailed pitta, the Irene's pitta, the banded pitta and the Van den Bosch's pitta. It is found in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

and

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. It was formerly considered conspecific with the

Bornean Borean (also Boreal or Boralean)http://ehl.santafe.edu/EhlforWeb.pdf is a hypothetical linguistic macrofamily that encompasses almost all language families worldwide except those native to the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and the Andaman Islands. ...

and

Javan banded pitta The Javan banded pitta (''Hydrornis guajanus'') is a species of bird in the family Pittidae. It is found in Java and Bali. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Bornean and Malayan banded pitta The Malayan banded pitta (''Hydrornis ...

s, together they were referred to as the banded pitta, but now they are considered to be separate species.

Taxonomy

At one time the Malayan banded pitta, the Bornean banded pitta, and the Javan banded pitta were all considered to be variants of a single species. However, they were divided into three separate species by Rheindt and Eaton in 2010, based on analysis of morphological, behavioural, and vocal differences.

Description

This colourful bird has a black head with a yellow/orange streak above the eye, an orange-red nape, a lemon-yellow throat, a chest barred with orange and dark blue (more orange towards the sides and more blue towards the centre), and a blue belly. The back is brown and the tail is blue.

Distribution and habitat

The Malayan banded pitta is native to tropical south-eastern Asia where its range includes Malaysia, Thailand and Sumatra. It typically inhabits primary lowland evergreen forests, including swamp forests, but can occur at altitudes of up to . It also occurs in secondary forest, but may not persist well in this environment. Its diet is mainly insects and fruits.

Status

The Malayan banded pitta is common in some places but scarce in others where its forest habitat is degraded by logging and conversion into agricultural land. With much of the primary forest lost in Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia, it is uncommon in these locations. It is also targeted for the illegal cage-bird trade and populations are declining; for these reasons, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as being "

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q3143814

Malayan banded pitta The Malayan banded pitta (''Hydrornis irena'') is a species of bird in the family Pittidae. Other common names include the blue-tailed pitta, the Irene's pitta, the banded pitta and the Van den Bosch's pitta. It is found in Thailand, the Malay P ...

Birds of Sumatra Birds of the Malay Peninsula

Taxa named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck