The pitohuis are bird species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. The onomatopoeic name is thought to be derived from that used by New Guineans from nearby Dorey (

Manokwari Manokwari is a coastal town and the capital city, capital of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of West Papua (province), West Papua. It is one of only seven provincial capitals of Indonesia without a city status in Indonesia, city ...

), but it is also used as the name of a genus '' Pitohui'' which was established by the French naturalist

René Lesson René Primevère Lesson (20 March 1794 – 28 April 1849) was a French surgery, surgeon, natural history, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist. Biography Lesson was born at Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Rochefort, and entered the Naval ...

in 1831. The unitalicized common name however refers to perching birds that belong to several genera of multiple bird families. The genera include '' Ornorectes'', '' Melanorectes'', and '' Pseudorectes'' apart from ''Pitohui''.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Pitohui

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

were formerly all classified in the genus '' Pitohui'', which at the time was in the family Pachycephalidae. In 2013 they were separated into several different genera in several different families. The species are now separated into three families as follows:

Oreoicidae

* Crested pitohui ('' Ornorectes cristatus'')

Pachycephalidae

* Black pitohui ('' Melanorectes nigrescens'') * White-bellied pitohui ('' Pseudorectes incertus'') * Rusty pitohui (''Pseudorectes ferrugineus'')

Oriolidae

* Northern variable pitohui (''Pitohui kirhocephalus'') * Raja Ampat pitohui (''Pitohui cerviniventris'') * Southern variable pitohui (''Pitohui uropygialis'') * Hooded pitohui (''Pitohui dichrous'')

Description

Pitohuis are brightly coloured, omnivorous birds. The hooded pitohui has a brick red belly and a jet-black head. The variable pitohui, as its name implies, exists in many different forms, and 20 subspecies with different plumage patterns have been named. Two of them, however, closely resemble the hooded pitohui.

Behaviour and ecology

The skin and feathers of some pitohuis, especially the variable and hooded pitohuis, contain powerful

neurotoxic Neurotoxicity is a form of toxicity in which a biological, chemical, or physical agent produces an adverse effect on the structure or function of the central and/or peripheral nervous system. It occurs when exposure to a substance – specifical ...

alkaloid Alkaloids are a broad class of natural product, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large varie ...

s of the batrachotoxin group (also secreted by the

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

poison dart frog Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are ...

s, genus ''

Phyllobates ''Phyllobates'' is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America, from Nicaragua to Colombia. There are 3 different Colombian species of ''Phyllobates'', considered highly toxic species due to the poison they contain in the wil ...

''). These are believed to serve the birds as a chemical defence, either against

ectoparasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

s or against visually guided predators such as

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s, raptors or humans. The birds probably do not produce batrachotoxin themselves. The toxins most likely come from the beetle genus '' Choresine'', a part of the birds' diets. The birds' bright colours are suggested to be an example of

aposematism Aposematism is the Advertising in biology, advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predation, predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses which make the pr ...

(warning colouration), and the similarity of the hooded pitohui and some forms of the variable pitohui might then be an example of

Müllerian mimicry Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon in which two or more well-defended species, often foul-tasting and sharing common predators, have come to mimicry, mimic each other's honest signal, honest aposematism, warning signals, to their mutuali ...

, in which dangerous species gain a mutual advantage by sharing colouration, so an encounter with either species trains a predator to avoid both.(Dumbacher & Fleischer, 2001)

Relationship to humans

Due to the toxicity of these birds, Papua New Guineans call the pitohuis rubbish birds and do not eat them; in desperate times, however, they can be consumed only after the feathers and skin have been removed and the flesh is coated in charcoal and then roasted.

References

* del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

''. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. * * *

External links

''Fugu, Poison Frogs, and Pitohuis'' by Harold B. White
*{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.linkscampeoes.com.br/cur_animais/im_cur_ven_insetos/pass_pitohui.JPG , date=* , title=Picture of a hooded pitohui Bird common names Oreoicidae . . Endemic fauna of New Guinea Toxic birds