Subspecies Geopelia placida placida Gould, 1844

Museums

Regional Maps

• Geopelia placida Gould, J. 1844. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, March 26, 1844. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1844: 55-58 [55] [chosen over Geopelia tranquilla Gould, 1844, published simultaneously, on grounds of page priority by Mathews, G.M. 1908. Handlist of the Birds of Australasia. Emu 7(supplement): 1–108, and in all literature since—but placida Gould is still junior by action of first reviser: Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 5 92 pls pp. [Pt 8, 1842] (text to pl. 73), see ICZN Art. 24(b); nevertheless, tranquilla Gould is not taken up here because, under ICZN Art. 80, it has been referred by the Standing Committee on Ornithological Nomenclature of the International Ornithological Committee to the Commission on Zoological Nomenclature for conditional suppression under ICZN Art. 79, when it and placida Gould are considered to be synonyms; for identification of syntypes, see Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129–180, and Wagstaffe, R. 1978. Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums. Liverpool : Merseyside County Museums, Merseyside County Council 33 pp.; collected by Gilbert, that specimen cited by Wagstaffe in LIVCM is certainly one of the syntypes according to the original description—others in ANSP probably are too, judged by Gould's mention of 'numerous individuals' available to him when describing placida as late as 1844 cf. Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109: 123–246 (130)].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 13437 ♂ (Verreaux cat. no. 60), Port Essington, NT.
  Paralectotype(s) LIVCM D. sq. 4269; ANSP.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129-180 [Date published 28 Feb 1913].
• Geopelia tranquilla Gould, J. 1844. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, March 26, 1844. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1844: 55-58 [56] [senior to Geopelia placida Gould, 1844 (q.v.) under ICZN Art. 24(b) and employed for this species in most 19th Century literature—but tranquilla Gould set aside here under ICZN Art. 80 for reasons given under G. placida Gould (q.v.); ANSP 13430 identified as type by Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129–180, but that specimen, with imprecise type locality 'New South Wales', represents one of the specimens used later for the account of this species in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould 5 92 pls pp. [published Sept. 1841] (pl. 73 and text) and may not be part of the type series, cf. Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109: 123–246].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) ANSP 13430 ♂ (institution uncertain; Verreaux cat. no. 56), Liverpool Plains and banks of the Namoi River, NSW.
• Geopelia placida melvillensis Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [28] [name published without author—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 614854 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 11374), Melville Is., NT
  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.
• Geopelia placida hedleyi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1: 81-103 [Date published 18 Sep 1912] [84].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 614876 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 12251), Thursday Is., Torres Strait, QLD (as Cape York, North Queensland)
  Comment: for identification of holotype and type locality, 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

• Schodde, R. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [33]

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal to near inland N and E Australia, north-west from Kimberley Division south to Dampier Land, Fitzroy River, Christmas Creek and Sturt Creek, WA, and Arnhem Land south to upper Victoria River drainage, almost Tennant Creek and Barkly Tableland (Alexandria-Camooweal), NT to around head of Gulf of Carpentaria and Selwyn Range to all Cape York Peninsula, QLD—south-east through all E Australia (except heavily forested and cold tableland regions) to Gippsland and north watersheds of Strathbogie, Pyrenees and Grampians Ranges, VIC, and the upper South-East of SA—and west inland to the Georgina River drainage, QLD, east rim of the Simpson Desert, Strzelecki Creek, and the Mt Lofty-Flinders and Gawler Ranges-Eyre Peninsula, SA—sporadic on Bassian Plains, VIC, the west Lake Eyre basin river courses, SA, and centralian ranges, SA, NT—also continental off-shore islands, Buccaneer and Bonaparte Archipelagos, WA, Melville-Bathurst Ils, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group, NT, Wellesley Ils, and larger south-west islands in Torres Strait north to Badu and Moa Ils, QLD, and Lord Howe Is. (vagrant), introductions to Kangaroo Is., SA, unsuccessful.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, diurnal, granivore, gregarious, low open woodland, low woodland, open forest, sedentary, terrestrial, volant, woodland.

History of changes