Spilopelia | |
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Spotted dove (S. chinensis) with plumage pattern of S. c. tigrina | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Columbiformes |
Family: | Columbidae |
Subfamily: | Columbinae |
Genus: | Spilopelia Sundevall, 1873 |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
Stigmatopelia Sundevall, 1873 |
Spilopelia is a genus of doves that are closely related to Streptopelia and Nesoenas , but distinguished from them by differences in morphology and genetics. Some authors [1] had argued that Stigmatopelia is the valid name as it appears in an earlier line of the same work by the Swedish zoologist Carl Sundevall, [2] [a] but Richard Schodde and Ian J. Mason had earlier, in their 1999 zoological catalogue of Australian birds, chosen Spilopelia in treating these two names as applying to the same genus; their choice stands under clause 24(b) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) which supports the decision of the first reviser. [4] [5] The name Spilopelia combines the Ancient Greek spilos meaning "spot" and peleia meaning "dove". [6]
A phylogenetic position based on Johnson et al. (2001). A second possibility is that Columba is a sister of Streptopelia but the remaining clades appear to be monophyletic. [7] |
The genus includes just two species: [8]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
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Spotted dove | Spilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786) Five subspecies
| Indian subcontinent and in East and Southeast Asia | Size: 27–30 cm; 125–130 g Habitat: moist woodland, gardens Diet: seeds including grain, small fruit | LC
|
Laughing dove | Spilopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766) Five subspecies
| Africa, the Middle East, South Asia | Size: 23–27 cm; 71–92 g Habitat: villages, gardens, dry woodland, savanna Diet: seeds including grain, small fruit, insects | LC
|
Some ornithologists split the spotted dove into the eastern spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) and the western spotted dove (Spilopelia suratensis), [9] [10] but this has not to date been accepted by the IOC. [11]