Spotted green pigeon

The spotted green pigeon was first mentioned and described in 1783 by John Latham. It is only known from a specimen kept in World Museum, Liverpool. Overlooked for much of the 20th century, it was recognised as a valid extinct species by the IUCN Red List only in 2008. It may have been native to an island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean.

About Spotted green pigeon in brief

The spotted green pigeon was first mentioned and described in 1783 by John Latham. It is only known from a specimen kept in World Museum, Liverpool. Overlooked for much of the 20th century, it was recognised as a valid extinct species by the IUCN Red List only in 2008. It may have been native to an island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean, and it has been suggested that a bird referred to as titi by Tahitian islanders was this bird. A genetic study confirmed it as a distinct species related to the Nicobar pigeon, and showed that the two were the closest relatives of the extinct dodo and Rodrigues solitaire. It has a black bill with a yellow tip, and the end of the tail has a pale band. The physical features of the bird suggest it was mainly arboreal, and fed on fruits. The species may have disappeared due to over-hunting and predation by introduced animals around the 1820s. The surviving specimen is 32 cm long, and has very dark, brownish plumage with a green gloss. The neck feathers are elongated, and most of the feathers on the upperparts and wings have a yellowish spot on their tips. There is no evidence that the bird had a knob on its bill, but there is no Evidence for this. The specimen was bought in 1812 by Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, who kept it in Knowsley Hall. It was prepared from the original posed mount into a study skin in 1851, where the specimen is housed today.

It can therefore be considered the holotype of the species. The bird was scientifically named by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789, based on Latham’s description. The original binomial name Columba maculata means ‘spotted pigeon’ in Latin. Latham himself accepted this name, and used it in his 1790 work Index ornithologicus. Since Latham appears to have based his 1783 description on Davies’ specimen, this can therefore also be considered a holotype. Subsequent writers were uncertain about the species’ validity, and James Stephens suggested that it belonged in the fruit pigeon genus. The Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori listed the bird in an appendix about \”doubtful pigeons, which have not yet been identified\” in 1893. In 1898, the Scottish ornithologist Henry Ogg supported the validity of the spotted green pigeons as a species of the same genus as Nicobar pigeons. He considered it to be a juvenile pigeon at any stage of development, and therefore considered it a separate species of Nicobar. In 1827, the German zoologist Johann Georg Wagilin suggested it was a juvenile pigeons of the genus Caloenas. After the death of the English major Thomas Davies, the specimen was transferred to the Derby Museum, where it was kept until 1851.

Related posts:

Passenger pigeon Pigeon photography Mauritius blue pigeon Great spotted woodpecker