Blue-rumped Pitta (Hydrornis soror) [XC19216]
by David Edwards from Cuc Phuong, Vietnam (song?)
Blue-rumped Pitta (Hydrornis soror) [XC149008]
by Frank Lambert from Bach Ma National Park, Vietnam (call)
Subspecies
Has on occasion been placed in a separate genus, Hydrornis, along with Blue-naped Pitta (Hydrornis nipalensis) and Rusty-naped Pitta (Hydrornis oatesi) these being closely related. Populations of south-eastern Laos and central Annam often separated as subspecies annamensis on basis of geographically discrete range coupled with more extensive lilac colour on face and crown. But owing to great variation in, especially, amount of lilac, however, and insufficient museum material and field studies, considered better treated as synonymous with nominate.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
tonkinensis (Delacour, 1927) - Southern China (Guangxi) and northern Vietnam (central Tonkin).
petersi (Delacour, 1934) - South-eastern Tonkin, northern Annam and central Laos.
douglasi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1910) - Hainan.
soror (Wardlaw-Ramsay, 1881) - South-eastern Laos and Vietnam (central and southern Annam, Cochinchina).
flynnstonei (Rozendaal, 1993) - South-eastern Thailand and south-western Cambodia.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet