Megaloprepia

Megaloprepia
Wompoo fruit dove Megaloprepia magnifica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae
Subfamily:	Ptilinopinae
Genus:	Megaloprepia Reichenbach, 1853
Type species
Columba magnifica Temminck, 1821

Megaloprepia is a genus of fruit doves in the family Columbidae. These are colourful frugivorous doves that are found in forests and woodlands.

Taxonomy

The genus Megaloprepia was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach with the type species as Columba magnifica Temminck, the wompoo fruit dove. ^{[1] [2]} The genus name is from Ancient Greek μεγαλοπρεπεια/megaloprepeia meaning "magnificence". ^[3]

The two species placed in this genus were formerly placed with all the other fruit doves in the genus Ptilinopus . A molecular genetic study published in 2014 found that Ptilinopus was paraphyletic. ^[4] As part of a rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the scarlet-breasted fruit dove and the wompoo fruit dove were moved from Ptilinopus to Megaloprepia. ^[5]

The genus contains the following two species: ^[5]

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Scarlet-breasted fruit dove	Megaloprepia formosa	north Moluccas
	Wompoo fruit dove	Megaloprepia magnifica	New Guinea and some satellites and east Australia

References

1. Reichenbach, Ludwig (1853). Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie (in German). Dresden und Leipzig: Expedition Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte. p. xxiii. For the publication date see: Dickinson, E.C.; Overstreet, L.K.; Dowsett, R.J.; Bruce, M.D. (2011). Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers. Northampton, UK: Aves Press. p. 134. ISBN   978-0-9568611-1-5.
2. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1937). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 41.
3. Jobling, James A. "Megaloprepia". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
4. Cibois, A.; Thibault, J.-C.; Bonillo, C.; Filardi, C.E.; Watling, D.; Pasquet, E. (2014). "Phylogeny and biogeography of the fruit doves (Aves: Columbidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 70: 442–453. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.08.019.
5. AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi: 10.2173/avilist.v2025 . Retrieved 2 November 2025.