''Geopelia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of small, long-tailed doves 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 ...

. They are native to

South-east Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia i ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

and are most often found in open country and scrubland. They feed mainly on seeds which they find by foraging on the ground. They typically lay two eggs in a simple nest of twigs and grass. Their plumage is mostly greyish-brown with a pattern of spots or bars. The zebra dove and

diamond dove The diamond dove (''Geopelia cuneata'') is a resident bird in Australia. The pigeon predominantly exists in areas near water but which are lightly arid or semi-arid in nature, being Central, West and Northern Australia. They are one of Australia' ...

are commonly kept in captivity. The genus was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist

William Swainson William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swains ...

with the zebra dove (''Geopelia striata'') as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The name of the genus combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''geō-'' meaning "ground-" and ''peleia'' meaning "dove". The genus contains five species: *

Diamond dove The diamond dove (''Geopelia cuneata'') is a resident bird in Australia. The pigeon predominantly exists in areas near water but which are lightly arid or semi-arid in nature, being Central, West and Northern Australia. They are one of Australia' ...

, ''Geopelia cuneata'' * Zebra dove, ''Geopelia striata'' *

Peaceful dove The peaceful dove (''Geopelia placida'') is a pigeon native to Australia and New Guinea. The peaceful dove is closely related to the zebra dove of south-east Asia and the barred dove of eastern Indonesia. Until recently, the three were classed ...

, ''Geopelia placida'' (sometimes treated as a subspecies of ''G. striata'') *

Barred dove The barred dove (''Geopelia maugeus''), also known as temminck's zebra dove or the lesser sunda dove is a small dove that is native and endemic to the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia and East Timor. It is closely related to the zebra dove of s ...

, ''Geopelia maugeus'' (sometimes treated as a subspecies of ''G. striata'') *

Bar-shouldered dove The bar-shouldered dove (''Geopelia humeralis'') is a species of long tailed dove native to Australia and Southern New Guinea. It is protected under the ''National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974''. It is a medium-sized pigeon varying in size from ...

, ''Geopelia humeralis''

References

External links

The Geopelia species
Bird genera Taxa named by William Swainson {{Columbiformes-stub