Elegant Pitta

SCI Name:  Pitta elegans
Protonym:  Pitta elegans Pl.Col. livr.100 pl.591
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Pittidae / Pitta
Taxonomy Code:  elepit1
Type Locality:  Timor.
Author:  Temminck
Publish Year:  1836
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PITTA
(Pittidae; Ϯ Indian Pitta P. brachyura) Telugu Dravidian name pitta pretty bauble or pet; "137. BRÈVE, Pitta.  Corvus, Linn. Gm. Lath.   Bec robuste, un peu épais à la base, droit, convexe en dessus, comprimé, pointu; mandibule supérieure échancrée vers le bout; l'inférieure entière, égale. — Ailes longues. — Queue courte.   Esp. Brève, Buff." (Vieillot 1816); "Pitta Vieillot, 1816, Analyse, p. 42. Type, by subsequent designation (G. R. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds, p. 43), Corvus triostegus Sparrman = Corvus brachyurus Linnaeus." (Mayr in Peters 1979, VIII, 310).   
Var. Pelta.   
Synon. Austropitta, Brachyurus, Calopitta, Cervinipitta, Citta, Coloburis, Cyanopitta, Galeripitta, Melanopitta, Merula, Pulchripitta.

elegans
L. elegans, elegantis  elegant, fine  < elegere probably an early form of eligere   to select.
● ex “Pic jaune tacheté de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 524 (Celeus).
● ex “Bucco maynanensis” of Brisson 1760, “Barbu des Maynas” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 330, “Beau Tamatia” of de Buffon 1770-1786, and “Beautiful Barbet” of Latham 1782 (syn. Eubucco versicolor).
● ex “Perdix martineta” of de Azara 1802-1805 (Eudromia).
● ex “Tangara de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 114, fig. 1 (syn. Euphonia chlorotica).
● ex “Beautiful Lory” of Latham 1781, ?and “Pennantian Parrot” of Latham 1787 (Platycercus).
● ex “Kink de la Chine” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 617 (syn. Sturnia sinensis).

SUBSPECIES

Elegant Pitta (concinna)
SCI Name: Pitta elegans concinna
concinna
L. concinnus elegant, neat, pleasing.

Elegant Pitta (maria)
SCI Name: Pitta elegans maria
maria
● Maria Reichenow née Cabanis (fl. 1890) wife of German ornithologist Prof. Anton Reichenow (Paradisaea apoda x Paradisaea guilelmi).
● Maria de Korte (fl. 1896) daughter of Dutch Resident of Sumba, who presented the holotype to William Doherty (subsp. Pitta elegans).
● “in remembrance of my late talented little neice, who had assisted me so much in my natural history studies, by collecting specimens ... Maria was with me in Manchester [Jamaica] when I procured the green-backed swallow ... and we visited together in the very district where this new Trochilus was found” (Richard Hill in Gosse 1849) (syn. Trochilus polytmus).

Elegant Pitta (virginalis)
SCI Name: Pitta elegans virginalis
virginalis
L. virginalis  virginal, maidenly  < virgo, virginis  virgin.
● Virgin Is., West Indies (syn. Anthracothorax aurulentus, syn. Vireo altiloquus).
● "28. Pitta virginalis sp. nov., or Pitta irena virginalis subsp. nov.  ...  Hab. Insula Djampea sic dicta.  ...  As said before, this beautiful and hitherto unknown form of Pitta, from an ornithologically hitherto quite virgin island, is nearest to Pitta irena from Timor and some other small islands of the Timor group" (Hartert 1896) (subsp. Pitta elegans).

Elegant Pitta (elegans)
SCI Name: Pitta elegans elegans
elegans
L. elegans, elegantis  elegant, fine  < elegere probably an early form of eligere   to select.
● ex “Pic jaune tacheté de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 524 (Celeus).
● ex “Bucco maynanensis” of Brisson 1760, “Barbu des Maynas” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 330, “Beau Tamatia” of de Buffon 1770-1786, and “Beautiful Barbet” of Latham 1782 (syn. Eubucco versicolor).
● ex “Perdix martineta” of de Azara 1802-1805 (Eudromia).
● ex “Tangara de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 114, fig. 1 (syn. Euphonia chlorotica).
● ex “Beautiful Lory” of Latham 1781, ?and “Pennantian Parrot” of Latham 1787 (Platycercus).
● ex “Kink de la Chine” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 617 (syn. Sturnia sinensis).

Elegant Pitta (vigorsii)
SCI Name: Pitta elegans vigorsii
vigorsii
Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785-1840) Irish MP, zoologist, editor of the Zoological Journal 1827-1834 (Aethopyga, syn. Anas bahamensis (ex Anas urophasianus Vigors, 1829), syn. Batara cinerea, syn. Dendroica pinus, syn. Garrulus lanceolatus, Heterotetrax, subsp. Pitta elegans, subsp. Saltator grandis (ex Saltator rufiventris Vigors, 1839), syn. Tringa nebularia (ex Totanus glottoides Vigors, 1832)) (see vigorsi).