Claret-breasted fruit dove | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Columbiformes |
Family: | Columbidae |
Genus: | Ptilinopus |
Species: | P. viridis |
Binomial name | |
Ptilinopus viridis (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
Synonyms | |
Columba viridisLinnaeus, 1766 |
The claret-breasted fruit dove (Ptilinopus viridis) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in the Moluccas, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands archipelago. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. [2]
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the claret-breasted fruit dove in his six volume Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on Ambon Island, one of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. He used the French name La tourterelle verte d'Amboine and the Latin Turtur viridis amboinensis. [3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. [4] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. [4] One of these was the claret-breasted fruit dove which he placed with all the other pigeons in the genus Columba . Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Columba viridis and cited Brisson's work. [5] The specific name viridis is the Latin word for "green". [6] This fruit dove is now placed in the genus Ptilinopus that was introduced in 1825 by the English naturalist William Swainson. [7] [8]
Six subspecies are recognised: [8]
The claret-breasted fruit dove is 20–21 cm (7.9–8.3 in) in length. The plumage is mainly green apart from a well-defined patch of dark red-brown feathers on the throat and upper breast. The face and forecrown are bluish grey and shoulder has a bluish grey patch. [9]