Pitohui

The pitohuis (Pitohui, Ornorectes, Pseudorectes, Melanorectes) are a genus of birds endemic to New Guinea, belonging to the family Pachycephalidae.

Currently six species are classified in the genus, though current molecular genetics research suggests that significant reclassification of the Pachycephalidae may be needed.

In Oriolidae

 * Variable Pitohui, Pitohui kirhocephalus
 * Hooded Pitohui, Pitohui dichrous

In Oreoicidae

 * Crested Pitohui, Ornorectes cristatus

In Pachycephalidae

 * White-bellied Pitohui, Pseudorectes incertus
 * Rusty Pitohui, Pseudorectes ferrugineus
 * Black Pitohui, Melanorectes nigrescens

Pitohuis are brightly coloured, omnivorous birds. The skin and feathers of some pitohuis, especially the Variable and Hooded Pitohuis, contain powerful neurotoxic alkaloids of the batrachotoxin group (also secreted by the Colombian poison dart frogs, genus Phyllobates). It is believed that these serve the birds as a chemical defence, either against ectoparasites or against visually guided predators such as snakes, raptors or humans. (Dumbacher, et al., 1992) The birds probably do not produce batrachotoxin themselves. It is most likely that the toxins come from the beetle genus Choresine, part of the bird's diet. (Dumbacher, et al., 2004). Due to their toxicity, Papua New Guineans call the pitohuis rubbish birds as they are not good for eating; however in desperate times they can be consumed but only after the feathers and skin are removed and the flesh is coated in charcoal and then roasted. (Piper, 2007)

The Hooded Pitohui is brightly coloured, with a brick red belly and a jet black head. The Variable Pitohui, as its name implies, exists in many different forms, and twenty subspecies with different plumage patterns have been named. Two of them, however, closely resemble the Hooded Pitohui.

It has been suggested that the birds' bright colours are an example of aposematism (warning colouration), and the similarity of the Hooded Pitohui and some forms of the Variable Pitohui might then be an example of Müllerian mimicry, in which dangerous species gain a mutual advantage by sharing colouration, so that an encounter with either species trains a predator to avoid both. (Dumbacher & Fleischer, 2001)