Columba (bird)

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Columba
Common wood pigeon (C. palumbus) in Taormina, Sicily
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Subfamily: Columbinae
Genus: Columba
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Columba oenas (stock dove)
Linnaeus, 1758
Diversity
33–35 species
Synonyms

Aplopelia Bonaparte, 1855 (but see text)
Trocaza Bonaparte, 1854

The

racing pigeon and the fantail pigeon, some of which have become feral. Meanwhile, "wood pigeon" by itself usually means the common wood pigeon
(C. palumbus).

This genus as understood today is native to the Old World, but some – notably the domestic and feral rock pigeon – have been introduced outside their natural range, for example in the Americas.

Etymology

The term columba comes from the

rock pigeons of Greece, because of the "swimming" motion made by their wings when flying.[6]

Taxonomy

The genus Columba was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[7] The type species was designated as the stock dove (Columba oenas) by Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825.[8]

The American pigeons formerly in Columba are now split off as a separate genus

tropical regions. The taxonomic status of some African pigeons presently placed here is in need of further study; they are smaller than the usual Columba (and hence often called "doves"), and differ in some other aspects. They might be separable as genus Aplopelia. That notwithstanding, the lineage of the typical pigeons probably diverged from its closest relatives in the Late Miocene, perhaps some 7-8 million years ago (Ma).[9][10]

Species

African olive pigeon (C. arquatrix)
Nilgiri wood pigeon (C. elphinstonii)
extinct Lord Howe pigeon
(C. vitiensis godmanae) is known only from some travellers' reports

There are 35 species recognised in the genus, of which two are extinct:[11]

A

ELMMZ MN 17) deposits at Varshets (Bulgaria) and Šandalja (Croatia).[12]

Another prehistoric pigeon, C. congi, was described from Early Pleistocene remains found in the famous Zhoukoudian caves in China. This, too, needs to be studied regarding whether it is not just an ancestral population of a still-living species. An extinct pigeon, the Mauritian wood pigeon (Columba thiriouxi), was described in 2011. The validity of the species has been challenged and it is not generally recognised. The holotype is a right tarsometatarsus collected in 1910.[13]

References

  1. ^ columba, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus
  2. ^ columbus, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  3. ^ κόλυμβος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  4. ^ κολυμβάω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  5. ^ κολυμβίς, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  6. ^ Aristophanes, Birds, 304, on Perseus
  7. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 162.
  8. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1823.tb00098.x
    .
  9. hdl:20.500.11755/a92515bb-c1c6-4c0e-ae9a-849936c41ca2
    .
  10. ^ Cheke, Anthony S. (2005). "Naming segregates from the Columba–Streptopelia pigeons following DNA studies on phylogeny". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 125 (4): 293–295.
  11. Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Pigeons"
    . IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  12. ^ Mlíkovský (2002): pp.221-222.
  13. S2CID 243501558
    . Retrieved 1 March 2020.

Sources
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