Hydrornis is a genus of pitta in the family Pittidae. The genus contains thirteen species, found in South-east Asia. The genus was formerly merged with the genus Pitta, but a 2006 study split the family into three genera.
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.[1] 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.[2][3] The name Hydrornis combines the Ancient Greek words hudōr "water" and ornis "bird".[4]
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.[1]