Patagioenas | |
---|---|
Band-tailed pigeons (Patagioenas fasciata) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Columbiformes |
Family: | Columbidae |
Subfamily: | Columbinae |
Genus: | Patagioenas Reichenbach, 1853 |
Type species | |
Columba leucocephala (white-crowned pigeon ) Linnaeus, 1758
| |
Species | |
17, see text. | |
Synonyms | |
Chloraenas Bonaparte, 1854 (unjustified emendation) |
Patagioenas is a genus of New World pigeons whose distinctness from the genus Columba was long disputed but ultimately confirmed. It is basal to the Columba-Streptopelia radiation with their ancestors diverging from that lineage likely over 8 million years ago. While the biogeographic pattern of this group suggests that the ancestors of typical pigeons and turtle-doves settled the Old World from the Americas, Patagioenas may also be the offspring of Old World pigeons that radiated into different genera later, given that the cuckoo-doves (Macropygia) of Southeast Asia also seem to be closely related.[1]