Birds Guide

The asities are a family of small suboscine passerine bird species found in Madagascar. They were thought to have been related to the pittas, hence the scientific name, but a study by Prum (1993) suggested that they are actually just a subfamily of broadbills. Here they are considered traditionally as a separate family.

These are plump strong-legged birds of the Malagasy forests which take fruit and insects and nest in trees or scrub. The Neodrepanis species — sunbird-asities — will take nectar, and were formerly known as false sunbirds.

• Family: Philepittidae
  • Velvet Asity, Philepitta castanea
    Schlegel's Asity, Philepitta schlegeli
    Common Sunbird-asity, Neodrepanis coruscans
    Yellow-bellied Sunbird-Asity, Neodrepanis hypoxanthus

Reference

Prum, R. 0. 1993. Phylogeny, biogeography, and evolution of the broadbills (Eurylaimidae) and asities (Philepittidae) based on morphology. Auk 110:304-324.

External links

• Asities videos on the Internet Bird Collection