The Philippine cuckoo-dove (''Macropygia tenuirostris'') is a

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 ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Columbidae 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 ...

. It is found in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

and is rated as a species of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Endangered Species.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Philippine cuckoo-dove was first described by the French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career B ...

in 1854. Formerly, some authorities classified it as a subspecies of either the

ruddy cuckoo-dove The ruddy cuckoo-dove (''Macropygia emiliana'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is a medium-sized, reddish brown cuckoo-dove, found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It is rated as a species of least concern on the Internatio ...

or the

brown cuckoo-dove The brown cuckoo-dove (''Macropygia phasianella'') is a dove in the genus '' Macropygia'' found in Australia from Weipa and Aurukun in the north to Bega in the south, and most inland at Atherton and Toowoomba. It is sometimes called the "brown ...

. It was split from the

slender-billed cuckoo-dove The slender-billed cuckoo-dove (formerly ''Macropygia amboinensis'') was until recently the name of a species of bird in the family Columbidae. Its range covered Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia. The binomial ''M ...

in 2016 and has four sub-species recognized: * ''M. t. phaea'' McGregor, 1904 -

Lanyu Island Orchid Island, also known by other names, is a volcanic island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan Island. The island is part of Taiwan. It is separated from the Batanes of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait. It is gove ...

Batan Island Batan Island ( ) is the main island of Batanes, an archipelagic province in the Philippines. It is the second largest of the Batanes Islands, the northernmost group of islands in the country. Four of the six municipalities of Batanes are locate ...

, and

Calayan Island Calayan Island is located about west-south-west of Babuyan Island off the north coast of the Philippines and belongs to the Babuyan Islands group in the Luzon Strait. The island is hemmed between Aparri and Batanes islands and it is larger than ...

* ''M. t. tenuirostris'' Bonaparte, 1854 -

* ''M. t. borneensis''

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960s ...

& Kloss, 1921 -

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...

. Provisionally moved from

to ''Macropygia tenuirostris'' by the

IOU An IOU (abbreviated from the phrase "I owe you") is usually an informal document acknowledging debt. An IOU differs from a promissory note in that an IOU is not a negotiable instrument and does not specify repayment terms such as the time of repa ...

. * ''M. t. septentrionalis'' Hachisuka, 1930 - Batan,

Itbayat Itbayat, officially the Municipality of Itbayat, ( ivv, Kavahayan nu Itbayat; tl, Bayan ng Itbayat), is a 5th class municipality in the province of Batanes, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 3,128 people. Itbay ...

and Sabtan Islands (northern Philippines);

(Taiwan).

Description

The Philippine cuckoo-dove is a large cuckoo-dove that measures in length, and weighs . The head is cinnamon reddish brown in colour, and the uppermantle has an amethyst shine with small brown freckles. The hindneck has an amethyst shine too. The adult has an orange-reddish brown forehead, with a chestnut coloured

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

and

nape The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''nu ...

that have pinkish tinge. The

irides In humans and most mammals and birds, the iris (plural: ''irides'' or ''irises'') is a thin, annular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil, and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. Eye color ...

are red, and the

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for fo ...

is brown. The ear coverts and neck-sides are also orange-reddish brown. The hindneck and breast-sides are shiny pinkish purple, and have black spots. The breast is lightly tinged with lilac. The outer tail coverts are dark reddish brown, with black subterminal bands. The feet are bright red in colour. The adult female has warm buff hindneck which is spotted and barred with black. The mantle and the wing coverts are more reddish brown at peripheries. The juvenile resembles the female in appearance, but is more barred.

Status and conservation

Since 1998, the Philippine cuckoo-dove has been rated as a species of

on the

IUCN Red List of Endangered Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

. This is because it has a large range—more than 20,000 km² (7,700 mi²)—and because it has a stable population trend. Also, although its population numbers have not been determined, they are thought to be above 10,000, which is above the criterion to warrant a

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

rating. It is reportedly a widespread species. It is thought to have no major threats.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1260427 Philippine cuckoo-dove Birds of the Philippines Philippine cuckoo-dove Philippine cuckoo-dove Taxonomy articles created by Polbot