The dwarf fruit dove (''Ptilinopus nainus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Columbidae Columbidae is a bird Family (biology), family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the Order (biology), order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in ...

. It is found in lowland and

foothill Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

forest in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and the

Raja Ampat Islands Raja Ampat (), or the Four Kings, is an archipelago located off of the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula (on the island of New Guinea), Southwest Papua , Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and sh ...

. The dwarf fruit dove weighs 49 grams, about equivalent to the weight of two AA batteries. This bird is the shortest in length within the fruit dove genus, and perhaps the shortest columbid of all.

Description

With a total length of , it is the shortest pigeon or dove in the world, but as it is relatively stocky, this species is more massive than several other small doves, weighing at . Its

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

is overall green, but with contrasting yellow undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

, and narrow bars to the wings. The inner wing-coverts and secondaries are more bluish in color compared to the rest of the body. This bluish-green coloring is most prominent on the scapulars; the body feathers that cover the top of the wing when the bird is at rest. The males have a dark purple patch on the belly and tend to have a gray patch on both sides of their upper breasts. The females look similar but lack these patches. Both males and females have a yellowish-green beak and purplish-red legs, in addition to a yellow area on their abdomen and undertail coverts. Juvenile fruit doves resemble the adult female's coloration, but have yellow fringes on most of their feathers. Eventually this yellow fringe will disappear, and the birds will take on the adult plumage of their respective sex.

Vocalisations

Dwarf fruit doves will communicate with each other using a high-pitched, slow, soft, and prolonged upslur. With a one-second pause, the sound is repeated about six times. Their call resembles a “oh-wah” sound.

Distribution and habitat

The habitat of the dwarf fruit dove are forests in the lowlands and foothills of

, excluding northwestern New Guinea and the north coast of southeastern New Guinea. Additionally, they are found in the

off the coast of Northwestern New Guinea. They have been most found in hills of up to elevation. They inhabit the Varirata National Park in New Guinea.

Behaviour and ecology

These fruit doves will often be found in pairs of their own species, and sometimes intermingling with other fruit dove species.

Breeding

The dwarf fruit dove's nests have been found in September and November. Nests are found at varying heights in small trees from above ground. A nest under construction was observed to be built by the female bird using twigs on top of dead leaves, which were collected by the male. The species has a generational length of 3.39 years.

Diet

90 percent of their diet comes from fruit, whereas the other 10 percent comes from nectar; thus thee dwarf fruit dove can be considered both a

frugivore A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

and

nectarivore In zoology, a nectarivore is an animal which derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of the sugar-rich nectar produced by flowering plants. Nectar as a food source presents a number of benefits ...

. When 8 dwarf fruit doves were captured and observed, they only ate

figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

during their captivity.

Status

The dwarf fruit dove has a stable population; it is a not globally threatened species, and is categorized under the Least Concern category of the IUCN red list, though the population trend is decreasing. The dwarf fruit dove is scarce, but not rare. The population size is unknown. The movement of the dwarf fruit dove is stationary around

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

, New Guinea but migrant in

Tabubil Tabubil is a town located in the Star Mountains area of the North Fly District of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The town, including the adjoining relocated village of Wangabin and the industrial area of Laydown (where industrial equipment was ...

.BirdLife International (2021) Species factsheet: ''Ptilinopus nainus''. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 28/10/2021

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q244137 dwarf fruit dove Endemic birds of New Guinea dwarf fruit dove Taxonomy articles created by Polbot