Species Geopelia cuneata (Latham, 1801)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Columba cuneata Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [61] [based on the Grey-necked Pigeon in Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801] (375), in turn possibly based on fig. 80 in the 'Sydney' bird paintings, a set of 100 figures of Australian birds collated from paintings prepared in the first few years of settlement at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, and now lodged in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, see Frith, H.J. 1982. Pigeons and Doves of Australia. Adelaide : Rigby vii 304 pp. 32 pls; for details of the paintings and their subjects, see Hindwood, K.A. 1965. The "Sydney" Bird Paintings. Australian Zoologist 13: 83–92 [Mathews, G.M. 1925. The Birds of Australia. Supplements 4 & 5. Bibliography of the Birds of Australia Pts 1 & 2. London : H.F. & G. Witherby viii 149 pp. Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)]].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, possibly illustrated in the 'Sydney' bird paintings figure 80 in Mitchell Library, Sydney), Sydney, NSW (as Nova Hollandia).

  Type locality references:

  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. (cf. Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801] [375]).
• Columba macquarie Quoy, J.R.C. & Gaimard, J.P. in Freycinet, L. 1824. Voyage autour du Monde, Enterpris par Ordre du Roi. Éxecuté sur les corvettes de S.M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820. Zoologie. Vol. III. Paris : Pillet Aîné 2 Vols 712 pp. Atlas 15 pp. 96 pls. [122] [as Columba macquarie; based on figure of a specimen given to L. Freycinet by Lachlan Macquarie, then Governor of New South Wales].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (figured on pl. 31 in Atlas in Quoy, J.R.C. & Gaimard, J.P. in Freycinet, L. 1824. Voyage autour du Monde, Enterpris par Ordre du Roi. Éxecuté sur les corvettes de S.M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820. Zoologie. Vol. III. Paris : Pillet Aîné 2 Vols 712 pp. Atlas 15 pp. 96 pls), NSW (as Nouvelle-Galles du Sud).
• Columba spiloptera Vigors, N.A. 1830. Notice on some new species of birds. Zoological Journal London 5: 273-275 [published June] [275].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (?lost, ex Zoological Society of London), NSW (as Australia)
  Comment: type material ex Zoological Society of London not listed as passing to BMNH by 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. (514-515).
• Turtur spilonota Gould, J. in Grey, G. 1841. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in north-west and western Australia, during the years 1837, 38 and 39 under the Authority of Her Majesty's Government. London : T. & W. Boone Vol. 2 vii 482 pp. (Appendix D, pp. 415-421). [publication date] [419] [nom. nud., possibly in error for Columba spiloptera Vigors, 1830 but without reference; identified with and introduced as junior synonym for Geopelia cuneata (Latham, 1802) by Mathews, G.M. 1924. In Proceedings of meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, March 12, 1924. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 44: 69–70, but name still unavailable under ICZN Art 11(e)].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s).

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1924. In Proceedings of meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, March 12, 1924. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 44: 69-70.
• Geopelia cuneata mungi Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [187].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 614977 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 9119), Mungi Rock Hole, about 40 km SE of Babrongan Tower, E Edgar Ranges, N WA (as North-West Australia (Mungi))
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see 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

• Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [167-168] (based on Mayr, E. 1951. Notes on some pigeons and parrots from Western Australia. Emu 51: 137–145; also Goodwin, D. 1974. Columbidae. In, Hall, B.P. (ed). Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962-70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. . London : British Museum 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp.)

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Throughout inland Australia thinly to most coastal regions, particularly drier tracts in north and north-west—north to Eighty Mile Beach and central and E Kimberley Division, WA, all Victoria River drainage, most of Arnhem Land, NT, around S Gulf of Carpentaria east to Norman River, QLD, and central Cape York Peninsula north to Albatross and Lloyd Bays—east to W slopes of the Great Dividing Range and passing through to east coast in drier gaps between Rollingstone and Bowen, Sarina and Gladstone, QLD, and sporadically from lower Richmond River to around Sydney, NSW—south sporadically to Riverina, the central Murray River drainage, VIC, and northern fringes of Murray Mallee to Flinders and Gawler-Middleback Ranges, SA, and avoiding Nullarbor Plain and central-west sand plain deserts, to mulga-eucalypt line in WA between Kalgoorlie and lower Murchison River—and west to west coast between Murchison River and Eighty Mile Beach, WA—occasionally disperses temporarily outside these limits, introduction to Kangaroo Is., SA, unsuccessful.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, W plateau
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, diurnal, granivore, low open woodland, nomadic, open scrub, tall open shrubland, terrestrial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Gregarious/randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder/opportunistic breeder, ground-feeding seed-eater taking minute seeds in all arid woodlands but usually near water, drinks daily in groups, rests, roosts and nests in trees, wanders widely to water and flushes of food in response to drought and erratic falls of rain, with temporary irruptions in many coastal-subcoastal areas, and shifting generally northwards through northern Australia (Arnhem Land-Cape York Peninsula) in dry season (May-Nov.) and generally southwards through Murray-Darling basin in summer (Dec.-Mar.).

 

General References

Ey, A. 1984. Notes on the breeding of the Diamond Dove Geopelia cuneata. Australian Bird Watcher 10: 170 (nidification)

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

Frith, H.J., Wolfe, T.O. & Barker, R.D. 1976. Food of eight species of Columbidae, in the genera Geopelia, Phaps, Geophaps and Petrophassa. Australian Wildlife Research 3: 159-171 (diet)

Goodwin, D. 1960. Some observations on the Diamond Dove. Aviculture Magazine 66: 97-105 (behaviour)

Goodwin, D. 1974. Columbidae. In, Hall, B.P. (ed.). Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions. London : British Museum Vol. 33 xi 396 pp., 10 pls col. pl. map. (habitat, behaviour, food, reproductive cycle, soft part colours, geographical variation)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

Milhinch, A.L. 1983. Diamond doves and other northern birds in the South-West of WA in 1981. Western Australian Naturalist 15: 147 (occurrence, nidification)

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. (synonymy and specific limits)

 

History of changes

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