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293
Naming segregates from the
Columba–Streptopelia pigeons following
DNA studies on phylogeny
by Anthony S. Cheke
Received 29 October 2004
In their pigeon phylogeny reconstructed through mtDNA analysis, Johnson et al.
(2001) identified, within the monophyletic Old World Columba/Streptopelia
lineage, four clades: two match the classical taxonomy of Old World Columba and
most Streptopelia (clade A) respectively. The other two, sister to each other,
represent in one line (clade C) chinensis and senegalensis, conventionally placed
with little dispute in Streptopelia, and in the other (clade B) two species whose
generic attribution has recently fluctuated according to different authors: mayeri
(Columba, Nesoenas) and picturata (Streptopelia, Columba). Depending on which
analysis is performed, clades B and C are sister either to Clade A (‘classic’
Streptopelia) or to Old World Columba, i.e. the three-way split was perhaps c.7–8
million years ago (based on the molecular clock used by Johnson et al. 2001), and
could not be adequately resolved by the data. New World Columba split off earlier,
leading Johnson et al. (2001) to re-assign them to a separate genus Patagioenas
Reichenbach, 1853. K. P. Johnson (in litt. 2005) has emphasised that his paper
cannot be considered a definitive molecular phylogeny for the
Columba/Streptopelia, as an important tranche of African Columba was not
included, namely delegorguei, iriditorques, malherbii, larvata and simplex. The
two last-named species have often been placed in their own genus, Aplopelia,
which Goodwin (1983) considered close in morphology to picturata (Malagasy or
Madagascan Turtle Dove), and one might add also in voice (as described by
Goodwin 1983 and Sinclair et al. 1993 for larvata).
In their taxonomic discussion Johnson et al. (2001) opted for a conservative
interpretation, suggesting simply transferring mayeri (Mauritius Pink Pigeon) from
Columba/Nesoenas to Streptopelia. However, given that the age of initial
diversification within Old World Columba is similar to the split between clades B
and C, it might be appropriate to group the four species in B and C within one
genus. Alternatively, as the lines diverged rapidly, mayeri/picturata could be
assigned to one genus and senegalensis/chinensis another. A third option, that the
entire Columba/Streptopelia complex could, as sister to Patagioenas, be treated as
a single large genus Columba with three or four subgenera, is unwieldy and would
result in a far greater number of name changes.
The oldest valid name for any of the four species in clades B and C is
Stigmatopelia Sundevall, created for senegalensis in 1872 (Sundevall 1872,
Salvadori 1893). Sundevall also created Spilopelia for chinensis (whose races were
at that time treated as three species) on the same page of the same work, but
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Stigmatopelia has line precedence. In the two-genus option, mayeri and picturata
would come under Nesoenas Salvadori, 1893, which was created for mayeri and
has page precedence over the same author’s Homopelia for picturata (Salvadori
1893). Trocaza Bonaparte, 1854, might be considered the oldest available name on
the basis of Shelley’s (1883) re-designation of the genus to include only mayeri;
Shelley pointed out that the type species Columba trocaz does not exhibit the
diagnostic feature (first primary shorter than fifth), leaving only mayeri within the
definition. However, the fact remains, Bonaparte’s error notwithstanding, that
trocaz is the type species, making Trocaza a junior synonym of Columba, and in
any case nomenclaturally invalid.
In voice and plumage, as well as mtDNA, mayeri and picturata, are close (pers.
obs.). In addition to mtDNA, Johnson et al. (2001) discussed their striking vocal
resemblance. Picturata has been little studied behaviourally, but McKelvey (1976)
reported a mixed pair with mayeri, thereby suggesting a close affinity. The uniform
dark back, somewhat contrasting rump and tail, and paler head are shared
characters (see, e.g., Sinclair & Langrand 1998), albeit much more emphasised in
mayeri, which is a larger bird, approximately double the mass of picturata (Johnson
et al. 2001). They do not phenotypically resemble Spotted Dove S. chinensis or
Palm Dove S. senegalensis. These two, whilst not particularly similar to each other
in appearance, do share a character that differs from other Columba/Streptopelia
pigeons: distinctly bifurcated feathers in the display plumage on the neck
(Salvadori 1893). Goodwin (1983) considered chinensis and senegalensis to form
an isolated pair within Streptopelia as defined by him. He commented that, in
addition to sharing the bifurcated feathers, they both lacked an ‘excitement cry’,
and their song-calls (‘advertising coo’), although dissimilar to each other, are unlike
any other Streptopelia. Goodwin also noted that picturata (not then thought to be
related) had ‘more or less bifurcated’ neck feathers, i.e. a hint of the character fully
developed in S. chinensis and S. senegalensis. He considered picturata so
anomalous that he did not include it in his putative relationship tree for the genus,
and he was also uncertain where to place mayeri, including it within Columba in
the 1967 edition of his work, but restoring Nesoenas in 1983, following
McKelvey’s observations (1976) recording behaviour rather more like Streptopelia
than Columba. Gibbs et al. (2001), following Sibley & Monroe (1990), placed
picturata with mayeri in Columba.
Here I propose that in order to formally recognise the particularities of these
four species, mayeri and picturata be united in Nesoenas, with chinensis and
senegalensis in Stigmatopelia. Further studies may well be desirable to further
elucidate their relationships, and these would be best conducted in Mauritius, where
all four species are now present sympatrically—the two Nesoenas native (Mourer-
Chauviré et al. 1999), the two Stigmatopelia introduced, chinensis long ago
(c.1781: Cheke 1987) and senegalensis recently (1995: Jones 1996), but now well
established (pers. obs. 2003). Picturata was long thought to have been introduced
to the Mascarenes (Jones 1987, Johnson et al. 2001), although Cheke (1987)
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considered the matter open. However, subfossil material from all three islands now
demonstrates it to be native (Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1999), albeit perhaps subject
to supplementary introduction from Madagascar (Cheke 1987).
As Stigmatopelia has not appeared in recent synonymies it may be appropriate
to re-cite it, as follows:
Stigmatopelia Sundevall 1872.
Methodi naturalis avium disponendarum tentamen, p.100.
Type by subsequent designation, Salvadori, 1893, Cat. Birds. Brit. Mus., 21, p. 448.
Columba senegalensis Linnaeus, 1766.
Stigmatopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766).
Acknowledgements
I thank Kevin Johnson and Steven Gregory as referees for their helpful comments on the paper.
References:
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Address: 139 Hurst Street, Oxford OX4 1HE, UK, e-mail: anthony@innerbookshop.com
© British Ornithologists’ Club 2005
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