Gallicolumba

Gallicolumba
Luzon bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba luzonica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae
Genus:	Gallicolumba Heck, 1849[1]
Diversity
16–17 living species, at least 7 extinct since c. 3000 BC
Synonyms
Phlegoenas Reichenbach, 1852

Gallicolumba is a mid-sized genus of ground-dwelling doves (family Columbidae) which occur in rainforests on the Philippines, Indonesia, and in the Pacific region. They are not closely related to the American ground doves (genus Columbina). Rather, the present genus is closest to the monotypic thick-billed ground dove genus Trugon.

This genus includes the Pacific ground doves and the bleeding-hearts known from the Philippines. The latter are named for their vivid-red patch on the breast, which looks startlingly like a bleeding wound in some species and has reminded naturalists of a dagger stab. The diet of doves of this genus consists of fruits and seed.

Systematics and extinctions

Trugon and Gallicolumba might be ranked as a (very small) subfamily, but the available data suggests that they are better considered part of a quite basal radiation of Columbidae which consists of many small and often bizarre lineages (e.g. Goura and Otidiphaps which are ecologically convergent to Galliformes, and maybe even the famous didines (Raphinae). Currently not quite 20 species of Gallicolumba are extant. Of the larger genera of Columbidae, Gallicolumba is the one most affected by extinction. 3-4 species have disappeared since the 18th century, and most of the remaining are decreasing in numbers, threatened with extinction or have lost subspecies due to habitat destruction, invasive species, or overhunting. In addition, there are several species never studied alive but known from subfossil bones. These became extinct during the human settlement of the Southern Pacific region (c. 3000 BC - 1400).

The bones of Gallicolumba are distinct enough to usually recognize this genus with ease. Still, the evolutionary affiliation of extinct species is often uncertain. A considerable number of recognizably distinct now-extinct Polynesian taxa used to inhabit the area where the white-headed lineage (G. jobiensis, G. erythroptera) and the Melanesian expansion that brought about G. sanctaecrucis and G. stairi (and possibly G. rubescens) would have met.

Species

• Luzon bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba luzonica
  • Catanduanes bleeding heart, Gallicolumba luzonica rubiventris - possibly extinct (late 20th century?)
• Mindanao bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba crinigera
  • Basilan bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba crinigera bartletti - possibly extinct (mid-20th century?)
• Mindoro bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba platenae
• Negros bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba keayi
• Sulu bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba menagei - possibly extinct (late 1990s?)

Ground-doves were removed from Gallicolumba (which was non-monophyletic) and reassigned to genus Alopecoenas:^[2]

• Cinnamon ground dove, Alopecoenas rufigula
• Sulawesi ground dove, Alopecoenas tristigmata
• White-breasted ground dove, Alopecoenas jobiensis
  • Vella Lavella ground dove, Alopecoenas jobiensis chalconota - possibly extinct (late 20th century?)
• Norfolk ground dove, Alopecoenas norfolkensis - extinct (c.1800)
• White-throated ground dove, Alopecoenas xanthonura
• Rota ground dove, Gallicolumba sp. - prehistoric
• White-fronted ground dove, Alopecoenas kubaryi
• Polynesian ground dove, Alopecoenas erythroptera
  • White-headed Polynesian ground dove, Alopecoenas erythroptera albicollis - probably extinct (20th century); taxonomic status unresolved
• Great ground dove, Alopecoenas nui - prehistoric
• Henderson ground dove, Alopecoenas leonpascoi - prehistoric
• New Caledonian ground dove, Alopecoenas longitarsus - prehistoric
• Tongan ground dove, Alopecoenas stairi
• Santa Cruz ground dove, Alopecoenas sanctaecrucis
• Tanna ground dove, Alopecoenas ferruginea - extinct (late 18th-19th century)
• Thick-billed ground dove, Alopecoenas salamonis - extinct (mid-20th century)
• Marquesan ground dove, Alopecoenas rubescens
• Bronze ground dove, Alopecoenas beccarii
• Palau ground dove, Alopecoenas canifrons
• Wetar ground dove, Alopecoenas hoedtii

Notes

1. Johann Georg Heck: Bilder-Atlas zum Conversations-Lexikon. Verlag Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1849.
2. Jønsson, Irestedt, Bowie, Christidis & Fjeldså (2011). Systematics and biogeography of Indo-Pacific ground-doves

References

• Gibbs, David; Barnes, Eustace & Cox, John (2001): Pigeons and Doves. Pica Press, The Banks, ISBN 1-873403-60-7
• Steadman, David William (2006): Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-77142-3
• del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (1997). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-22-9

External links

Media related to Gallicolumba at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Gallicolumba at Wikispecies