Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon (''Goura scheepmakeri'') is a large, terrestrial

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 small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

confined to the

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

forests of south eastern

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 ...

. It has a bluish-grey plumage with elaborate blue lacy crests, red

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

and very deep maroon breast. Both sexes have a similar appearance. It is on average long and weighs , making this the second largest living pigeon species behind the

Victoria crowned pigeon The Victoria crowned pigeon (''Goura victoria'') is a large, bluish-grey pigeon with elegant blue lace-like Crest (feathers), crests, maroon breast and red Iris (anatomy), irises. It is part of a genus (Goura (genus), ''Goura'') of four unique, v ...

Taxonomy

This species was first described by the German zoologist

Otto Finsch Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, natural history, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earne ...

who received a live bird from the dealer C. Scheepmaker in Amsterdam Zoo and named it after him. Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon was previously considered as conspecific with

Sclater's crowned pigeon Sclater's crowned pigeon (''Goura sclaterii'') is a large, terrestrial pigeon confined to the southern lowland forests of New Guinea. This pigeon was previously considered as conspecific with Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon (''Goura scheepmakeri'') w ...

(''Goura sclaterii'') with the English name southern crowned-pigeon. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2018 found that Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon was most closely related to the

(''Goura victoria''). Being tame and heavily hunted for its meat and plumes, Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon is evaluated as Vulnerable on the

IUCN Red List 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 an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

of Threatened Species. It is listed in Appendix II of

CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Red Data Book
{{Taxonbar, from=Q367448

Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon (''Goura scheepmakeri'') is a large, terrestrial pigeon confined to the lowland forests of south eastern New Guinea. It has a bluish-grey plumage with elaborate blue lacy crests, red Iris (anatomy), iris and very deep ...

Birds of Papua New Guinea Birds of southern New Guinea

Articles containing video clips

Endemic birds of Papua New Guinea