The wompoo fruit dove (''Ptilinopus magnificus''), also known as wompoo pigeon and "magnificent fruit dove" among others, is one of the larger

fruit dove The fruit doves, also known as fruit pigeons, are a genus (''Ptilinopus'') of birds in the pigeon and dove family (Columbidae). These colourful, frugivorous doves are found in forests and woodlands in Southeast Asia and Oceania. It is a large gen ...

s native to

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 eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Taxonomy

The wompoo fruit dove was formally described in 1821 by the Dutch zoologist

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch patrician, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. Fro ...

from a specimen that had been collected on the east coast of Australia. He placed it with the doves and pigeons in the

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 ...

Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Columba magnifica''. The wompoo fruit dove is now one of 57 fruit doves placed in the genus ''

Ptilinopus The fruit doves, also known as fruit pigeons, are a genus (''Ptilinopus'') of birds in the pigeon and dove family (Columbidae). These colourful, frugivorous doves are found in forests and woodlands in Southeast Asia and Oceania. It is a large gen ...

'' that was introduced in 1825 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 ...

. Five

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''P. m. puella'' ( Lesson, RP & Garnot, 1827) –

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 ...

(northwest of

, except

Gebe Gebe is an island in Maluku Islands, Indonesia, between Raja Ampat and Halmahera. Administratively it is part of Central Halmahera, North Maluku. The island is part of a small island group which also includes Fau island, Yoi, Uta, and Sain. ...

and Kofiau) and

Bird's Head Peninsula The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: , , meaning Bird's Head in Indonesian and Dutch) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai'') is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indones ...

(northwest

) * ''P. m. poliurus'' ( Salvadori, 1878) –

Yapen Yapen (also Japen, Jobi) is an island of Papua (province), Papua, Indonesia. The Yapen Strait separates Yapen and the Biak Islands to the north. It is in Cenderawasih Bay off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. To the west is ...

( Geelvink Bay is., northwest

), central west to northeast, southeast

Manam Manam, known locally as Manam Motu, is an island located in the Bismarck Sea across the Stephan Strait from Yawar on the northeast coast of mainland Papua New Guinea's Bogia District. The island is wide, and was created by the activity of th ...

, Bagabag and

Karkar Island Karkar Island is an oval-shaped volcanic island located in the Bismarck Sea, about off the north coast of mainland Papua New Guinea in Madang Province, from which it is separated by the Isumrud Strait. The island is about in length and in widt ...

(north of northeast

) and Normanby (east D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago, east of southeast

) * ''P. m. assimilis'' (

Gould Gould may refer to: People * Gould (name), a surname Places United States * Gould, Arkansas, a city * Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Gould, Oklahoma, a town * Gould, West Virginia, an ...

, 1850) – north

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

, northeast

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

(far northeast Australia) * ''P. m. keri'' ( Mathews, 1912) – southeast

, northeast

to central east

(northeast, central east Australia) * ''P. m. magnificus'' (

Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch patrician, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob ...

, 1821) – southeast

to central south

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

(central east, southeast Australia)

Description

This dove measures up to , but are generally far smaller in northern regions. It has purple

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 ...

around its

neck The neck is the part of the body in many vertebrates that connects the head to the torso. It supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that transmit sensory and motor information between the brain and the rest of the body. Addition ...

chest The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

and upper

belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, ce ...

. Its lower belly is yellow and it has green underparts. The sexes are similar and the juveniles have a duller and greener plumage compared to adults. Notwithstanding their bright

, they are hard to see amongst the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

, thanks to their unobtrusive, quiet habits. Their call sounds like ''wollack-wa-hoo'' and often sounds very human.

Behaviour

Food

The wompoo fruit dove can be seen in large flocks where food is abundant. The birds feed off fruit-bearing trees in rainforests such as

fig 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 ...

s. They also occasionally eat insects. They can eat large

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s whole and are able to acrobatically collect fruit of trees and

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

s. They do not like to travel long distances, preferring to stay in their local area and make use of whatever fruit are in season. The diet of this species was extensively studied in the

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 ...

area by Frith ''et al.'' (1976). Despite their small size, they are able to swallow fruits of volume, which would translate into a diameter of about in spherical fruit. Major food items included: *

s, particularly ''

Ficus macrophylla ''Ficus macrophylla'', commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the mulberry and fig family Moraceae. It is native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland i ...

'', including '' Ficus albipila'', ''

Ficus benjamina ''Ficus benjamina'', commonly known as weeping fig, benjamin fig or ficus tree and often sold in stores as just ficus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Asia and Australia. It is the official tree of Bangkok. The ...

'', ''

Ficus drupacea ''Ficus drupacea'', also known as the brown-woolly fig or Mysore fig, is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia and Northeast Australia (it has been introduced into the New World tropics, including Puerto Rico). It is a strangler fig; it begin ...

'', '' Ficus glaberrima'', ''

Ficus virens ''Ficus virens'' is a plant of the genus ''Ficus'' found in Pakistan, India, east and Southeast Asia, through Malaysia and into Northern Australia. Its common name is white fig; it is locally known as ''pilkhan'' and in the Kunwinjku language it ...

'' and ''

Ficus wassa ''Ficus wassa'' is a species of fig in the family Moraceae found in Malesia. References wassa The Wasa (or Wassa) is an Akan ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the Western Region of Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of ...

'' - preferentially in the late dry and wet season (October - March) * Fruit of cinnamon trees (''

Cinnamomum ''Cinnamomum'' is a genus of evergreen aromatic trees and shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The species of ''Cinnamomum'' have aromatic oils in their leaves and bark. The genus contains approximately 234 species, distributed in ...

'' sp.), ''

Litsea ''Litsea'' is a genus of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes a large number of accepted species in tropical and subtropical areas of North America and Asia. Characteristics They a ...

'', ''

Neolitsea ''Neolitsea'' is a genus of about 85 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the laurel family Lauraceae. They range from Indo-Malaysia to East Asia to Australia. The leaves are alternate, clustered, or verticillate, rarely subopposite. Sp ...

'' and ''

Cryptocarya ''Cryptocarya'' is a genus of about 360 species of flowering plants in the laurel family, Lauraceae. Most species are trees, occasionally shrubs, distributed through the Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms. Most plant ...

'' - whenever available *

Arecaceae The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly k ...

(palm) fruit, including ''

Archontophoenix ''Archontophoenix'' is a plant genus comprising six palm species that are native to New South Wales and Queensland in eastern Australia. They are tall, slender and unbranched. Relationships between ''Archontophoenix'' and the other genera of subt ...

'', ''

Arenga ''Arenga'' is a genus of palms, native to Southeast Asia, southern China, New Guinea, and northern Australia. They are small to medium-sized palms, growing to 2–20 m tall, with pinnate leaves 2–12 m long. Arenga palms can grow in areas with ...

'', ''

Calamus Calamus may refer to: Botany and zoology * ''Calamus'' (fish), a genus of fish in the family Sparidae * ''Calamus'' (palm), a genus of rattan palms * Calamus, the hollow shaft of a feather, also known as the quill * ''Acorus calamus'', the swee ...

'' and ''

Caryota ''Caryota'' is a genus of palm trees. They are often known as fishtail palms because of the shape of their leaves. There are about 13 species native to Asia (China, India, Indonesia, etc.), northern Australia, and the South Pacific. One of the ...

'' - mid-late dry season (August - October) and January *

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...

fruit, such as

Ylang-ylang ''Cananga odorata'', known as ylang-ylang ( ) or cananga tree, is a tropical tree that is native to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Queensland, Australia. It is also native to parts of Thailand and Vie ...

(''Cananga odorata'') and ''

Polyalthia ''Polyalthia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae. There are approximately 90 species distributed from Africa to Asia and the Pacific.

'' - whenever available Food items of minor importance were fruit of: * ''

Eugenia ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...

'', ''

Syzygium ''Syzygium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. I ...

'', ''

Acmena ''Acmena'' was formerly the name of a genus of shrubs and trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. The genus was first formally described in 1828 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in his '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''. The spec ...

'' - important in May * '' Hypserpa'' - important in July/August * ''

Planchonella ''Planchonella'' is a genus of Flowering plant, flowering trees in the gutta-percha family (biology), family, Sapotaceae. Named in honour of Jules Émile Planchon, it was described by Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre. It contains around 110 mainly trop ...

'' - important August - October * ''

Elaeocarpus ''Elaeocarpus'' is a genus of nearly five hundred species of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae native to the Western Indian Ocean, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, and the Pacific. Plants in the genus ''Elaeocarpus'' are trees or shrub ...

'' - important in October * '' Erythroxylon scarinatum'' - important in November/December * ''

Tinospora smilacina ''Tinospora smilacina'' is a woody vine in the Menispermaceae family. It was first described by George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as ...

'', ''

Glochidion ''Glochidion'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae, known as cheese trees or buttonwood in Australia, and leafflower trees in the scientific literature. It comprises about 170 species, distributed from Madagascar to the Pa ...

'', '' Gomphandra australiana'', ''

Gomphandra montana ''Gomphandra'' is a genus of plant in family Stemonuraceae. They are dioecious trees or shrubs.Barlow, B.A. (1984) in George, A.S. (edFlora of Australia. Volume 22. Rhizophorales to Celastrales Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. The genus incl ...

'', ''

Cayratia ''Cayratia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Vitaceae. It consists of species of vine plants, typical of the tribe Cayratieae. Some of them are used by humans, and they are found in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, Au ...

'', ''

Cissus ''Cissus'' is a genus of approximately 350 species of lianas (Woody plant, woody vines) in the grape family (Vitaceae). They have a cosmopolitan distribution, though the majority are to be found in the tropics. Decription Extrafloral nectaries ...

'', ''

Terminalia Terminalia may refer to: * Terminalia (festival) Terminalia () was an ancient Roman festival in honour of the god Terminus, who presided over boundaries. His statue was merely a stone or post stuck in the ground to distinguish between propert ...

'', ''

Diospyros ''Diospyros'' is a genus of over 700 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. The majority are native to the tropics, with only a few species extending into temperate regions. Individual species valued for their hard, heavy, dark timb ...

'', ''

Chionanthus ''Chionanthus'' (), common name: fringetrees, is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. The genus has a wide distribution primarily in the tropics and subtropics, but with three species extending north into t ...

'', ''

Vitex cofassus ''Vitex cofassus'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is a tree native to Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands, Caroline Islands, and Mariana Islan ...

'', ''

Alocasia ''Alocasia'' is a genus of rhizomatous or tuberous, broad-leaved, perennial, flowering plants from the family Araceae. There are about 90 accepted species native to tropical and subtropical Asia and eastern Australia. Around the world, many growe ...

'', and ''

Psychotria ''Psychotria'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the coffee family Rubiaceae, with over 1,600 species. The genus has a pantropical distribution and members of the genus are small understorey trees in tropical forests. Some species are endan ...

'' - taken as available

Breeding

Breeding times will vary according to weather conditions. The

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

is sturdily constructed from forked twigs not high from the ground. Both sexes help in the construction of the nest. One white

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

is laid and the parents share the incubation and care of the chick. In the event that the chick dies, the doves will attempt to have a second offspring in the same season.

Conservation

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the wompoo fruit dove is evaluated as Least Concern 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.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q239801

wompoo fruit dove The wompoo fruit dove (''Ptilinopus magnificus''), also known as wompoo pigeon and "magnificent fruit dove" among others, is one of the larger fruit doves native to New Guinea and eastern Australia. Taxonomy The wompoo fruit dove was Species de ...

Birds of New Guinea Birds of Queensland

Articles containing video clips Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN