'' Arenicolumba prattae '' is an extinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of small

pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

from the Miocene of Florida. It was described from

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

material ( a left

coracoid A coracoid (from Greek κόραξ, ''koraks'', raven) is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is pre ...

) collected at the

Thomas Farm Site The Thomas Farm site is an Early Miocene, Hemingfordian assemblage of vertebrate fossils located in Gilchrist County, northern Florida. The Thomas Farm site is one of the richest terrestrial deposits of Miocene vertebrates in the 18 Ma range fo ...

in Gilchrist County, northern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, south-eastern United States. The genus name ''Arenicolumba'' comes from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''arena'' (“sandy place”) with reference to the sandy, fossiliferous sediments of the collection site, and ''columba'' (“pigeon”). Originally described in 1992 as ''Columbina prattae'', it was moved to the new genus in 2008.

References

Fossil taxa described in 1992 Birds described in 1992 Columbidae Miocene birds of North America Native birds of the Southeastern United States {{Paleo-bird-stub