''Philepitta'' is a genus 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

Philepittidae The asities are a family of birds, Philepittidae, that are endemic to Madagascar. The asities consist of four species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biod ...

. Established by

Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (16 December 1805 – 10 November 1861) was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' (ethology). Biography He was born in Paris, the son ...

in 1838, the genus contains the following species: The genus name ''Philepitta'' is a combination of the French name ''philédon'', for the

friarbird The friarbirds, also called leatherheads, are about 15 species of relatively large honeyeaters in the genus ''Philemon''. Additionally, the single member of the genus ''Melitograis'' is called the white-streaked friarbird. Friarbirds are found ...

s of the family Meliphagidae and ''pitta'', for the birds of the genus " pitta". ''Philepitta'' is now the type-genus of a new bird family, the

, into which the Asites of Madagascar have been placed.

References

Bird genera Taxa named by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Tyranni-stub