Species Columba (Janthoenas) leucomela Temminck, 1821

Museums

Regional Maps

• Columba leucomela Temminck, C.J. 1821. Account of some new species of birds of the genera Psittacus and Columba, in the Museum of the Linnean Society. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 107-130 [publication dated as 1822] [126] [also as incorrect subsequent spellings, leucomelana by Wagler, J. 1827. Systema Avium. Pars prima. Stuttgart and Tubingen : J.G. Cottae 411 (unpaginated) pp. (Columba sp. 56), and leucomelas by Blyth, E. 1849. Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum, Asiatic Society. Calcutta : Asiatic Society of Bengal xxxiv 403 pp. (233); for identification of holotype, see Salvadori, T. 1893. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Columbae, or Pigeons. London : British Museum Vol. 21 xvii 676 pp. XV pls (321); Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (414); and Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. (233)].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863.7.6.12 adult, S QLD (as à la côte nord de la Nouvelle Hollande).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Frith, H.J. 1982. Pigeons and Doves of Australia. Adelaide : Rigby vii 304 pp. 32 pls [151]).
• Leucomeloena norfolciensis queenslandica Mathews, G.M. 1916. List of additions of new sub-species to, and changes in, my "List of the Birds of Australia". Austral Avian Records 3(3): 53-68 [Date published 4 Apr 1916] [54] [type material not identified in G.M. Mathews' collection in AMNH by Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH (institution uncertain, G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), N QLD (as Queensland).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.

  Secondary source:

   Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1-306.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Salvadori, T. 1893. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Columbae, or Pigeons. London : British Museum Vol. 21 xvii 676 pp. XV pls. (specific limits)
• Peters, J.L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 3 xiii 311 pp.
• Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [164]
• Frith, H.J. 1982. Pigeons and Doves of Australia. Adelaide : Rigby vii 304 pp., 32 pls.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal E Australia east of Great Dividing Range, in three centres: Helenvale to Paluma Range, QLD, Clarke Range to Berserker Range, QLD, and Jimna Range-Bunya Mountains, QLD to Cambewarra Mts, NSW, sporadically south to Eden-Nadgee; patchy throughout range.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Queensland: NE coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Aerial, arboreal, closed forest, diurnal, frugivorous, granivore, gregarious, nomadic, tall forest, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, circumannual breeder/opportunistic breeder, feeds on fruits in crowns of rainforest trees or nearby copses, nests in tree and tall shrub crowns and wanders to and congregates at local flushes of fruiting up and down eastern Australian coast, particularly of introduced camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora Nees et Eberm. [Lauraceae]).

 

General References

Crome, F.H.J. 1975. The ecology of fruit pigeons in tropical northern Queensland. Australian Wildlife Research 2: 155-185 (movements, feeding ecology)

Frith, H.J. 1952. Notes on the pigeons of the Richmond River, N.S.W. The Emu 52: 89-99 (voice, behaviour, movements)

Frith, H.J. 1977. Some display postures of Australian pigeons. Ibis 119: 167-182 (behaviour)

Goodwin, D. 1959. Taxonomy of the genus Columba. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zool. 6: 1-23 (affinities of species, as Columba norfolciensis Latham)

Goodwin, D. 1967. Australian pigeons: their affinities and status. The Emu 66: 319-336 (affinities of species, as Columba norfolciensis Latham)

Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1921. A Manual of the Birds of Australia. Orders Casuarii to Columbae. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 xxiv 279 pp. 36 pls. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement and subsequent revisions. The name Columba norfolciensis Latham, 1802 has formerly been applied frequently to this species, for e.g., by RAOU Checklist Committee (1926); Mathews (1927); Peters (loc. cit.)—but its types are unidentifiable or referable to other species, see Appendix III and Hindwood (1965))

Rose, A.B. 1973. Food of some Australian birds. The Emu 73: 177-183 (diet)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		12-Feb-2010	(import)