TAXONOMY OF THE GENUS COLUMBA By D. GOODWIN CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ........... i COLOUR AND COLOUR-PATTERN . . . . . . . i ADAPTIVE RADIATION AND RELATIONSHIPS ...... 2 THE SPECIES-GROUPS AND THEIR COMPONENT SPECIES .... 4 NOTES ON SPECIES .......... 7 SUMMARY ............ 22 REFERENCES ........... 22 SYNOPSIS Previous reviews of the genus Columba have grouped together species which lack display plumage on the neck or whose ornamentation is superficially similar. This is believed to have resulted in some false conclusions because such display plumage has been independently lost or become obsolescent in several species. When this is recognized and greater importance attached to basic colour-patterns and geographical distribution a truer picture of relationships within the genus can be arrived at. INTRODUCTION THE genus Columba includes a large number of medium to large-sized pigeons, widely distributed throughout the world. Peters (1937), for example, lists fifty-two species and does not divide them into sub-genera. The rather inconveniently large size of the genus has often been criticized and the affinities of its members questioned. Ridgway (1916) separated the relatively few northern and central American species into six genera, some of them monotypic. The most important recent revision of the genus is that of Boetticher (1954), who divides it into several sub-genera and corrects some false conclusions of a previous and less comprehensive revision by Miculicz-Radecki (1949). When re-arranging the very extensive collection of specimens of Columba in the British Museum (Natural History) it was found impossible to agree with all of Boetticher's conclusions. The object of this paper, therefore, is a revision of the genus based on examination of the skins in the National Collection and correlated, as far as has been possible, with what is known of the ecology and behaviour of the species of which it is comprised. Emphasis is placed on discussion of those points where my conclusions differ from those of Boetticher. I am indebted to Dr. Dean Amadon of the American Museum of Natural History for the loan of specimens of Columba albinucha and C. pallidiceps, to Mr. J. D. Macdonald for help and con-structive criticism and to Dr. G. Bodenstein, Professor W. F. Hollander and Mr. R. W. Sims for information and discussion on various points. COLOUR AND COLOUR-PATTERN Within Columba plumage colour ranges from entirely black, with green and purple iridescence, to predominantly pale grey or purplish-chestnut. It is evident that, ZOOL. 6, I. I
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