The taxonomic placement of the melampittas was the source of long-standing confusion. Based on their superficial resemblance to the suboscine pittas (plump bodies, short tails and long legs), Hermann Schlegel placed the lesser melampitta within that family when he described that species in 1871. The name melampitta is derived from the Ancient Greek "melas-" for "black" with the genus name ""Pitta"". As Ernst Mayr demonstrated that the structure of the syrinx was that of an oscine bird the genus was later moved to the Old World babblers (an infamous "taxonomic dustbin"), then to Orthonychidae (where some authorities still retain them) and then to the jewel-babblers and whipbirds (the treatment used by the 2007 "Handbook of the Birds of the World").