Crimson-crowned fruit dove

The crimson-crowned fruit dove (Ptilinopus porphyraceus) is a small dove in the genus Ptilinopus, about 23 cm (9 in) in length.^[6]

Its plumage is two-toned green, with a distinctive purple-crimson cap and pale greenish-gray head, neck, breast, and upper back.^[6] A dusky patch marks the area between the breast and belly, while the undertail-coverts are orange-yellow.^[6] The tail ends in a pale band, which is gray in birds from Fiji and Tonga.^[6] There is limited demonstration of sexual dimorphism in this species, as males and females have similar plumage.^[6] However, the species demonstrates ontogenetic variation, as juveniles are bright green with yellow edges on their feathers.^[7]

The distribution of this species extends across islands in Fiji, Tonga, Niue, and the Samoan Islands.^[8] Its populations occur on separate islands and island groups throughout the southwestern Pacific, rather than inhabiting a continuous geographic range.^[8] The species is associated with the biogeographic region of western Polynesia, which includes Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.^[8] However, its precise distribution depends partly on which taxonomic classification is followed.^[8]

The crimson-crowned fruit dove inhabits tropical island environments, particularly forested areas that supply fruit and suitable trees for feeding and shelter.^[9][4] Studies have documented it in mature native forest, secondary forest, regenerating woodland, bush clearings, and some agricultural landscapes.^[9][4] Although the species can occupy disturbed environments, research indicates that mature or relatively undisturbed forest often supports greater numbers of birds.^[9][4]

It is important to note that older ornithological works used Ptilinopus porphyraceus for a broader group of Pacific island populations. The 2014 HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist treated several formerly included forms, including the Samoan fruit dove (Ptilinopus fasciatus), as separate species.^[13] Because of this, geographic plumage differences reported in older literature should not automatically be attributed to P. porphyraceus under every modern classification.^[13]

The crimson-crowned fruit dove (Ptilinopus porphyraceus) entered Western ornithological literature under older names before naturalists established its current scientific name. During the late eighteenth century, European expeditions visited islands across the southwestern Pacific, including Tonga, where the type specimen of the species is believed to have been collected from. Captain James Cook's second and third voyages visited Tonga in 1773 and 1777. Birds collected during these expeditions entered European natural history collections, and these collections would be referenced by later naturalists, such as John Latham, as they catalogued species and attributed scientific names to them. However, surviving records do not identify every early specimen to a modern species, making it difficult to establish exactly when Europeans first encountered Ptilinopus porphyraceus specifically.

In 1783, English naturalist and ornithologist John Latham described a bird called the “Purple-Crowned Pigeon” in his A General Synopsis of Birds.^[17] Latham based his description on a specimen from Tahiti, but also discussed similar birds from Tongatapu, noting that their crowns had a deeper, brighter purple color and thus might be a separate species of bird.^[17] He recorded that the local people referred to the Tongatapu birds with the name kulukulu, but grouped these birds under the older scientific name Columba purpurata regardless^[17], though it is now believed that the bird from Tongatapu that he was referencing was likely the crimson-crowned fruit dove.^[18] Later Western ornithologists recognized that historical descriptions sometimes combined closely related fruit doves from different islands.^[18]

Before the current scientific name appeared, the bird also featured in Les Pigeons, an 1811 illustrated work by French artist Madame Knip, with accompanying text by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck.^[19] Plate No. 35 depicts a 'kurukuru' variety of what was then considered Columba purpurata.^[19] It is believed that 'kurukuru' is likely an alternate spelling of the name that the people of Tonga and Niue gave to this bird; kulukulu.^[4]

At this stage, the differences between this regional variety (what is now understood to be the crimson-crowned fruit dove) and the more generalized Columba purpurata were noted as Temminck discussed differences between the two varieties of pigeons and considered whether variations in their appearance might result from differences in sex, age, or the islands they inhabited.^[19]

In 1821, Temminck formally described the taxon as a species separate to Columba purpurata, under the new scientific name Columba porphyracea in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.^[20] Later taxonomists transferred the species to the genus Ptilinopus, producing its current name, Ptilinopus porphyraceus.^[21] Temminck’s 1821 publication is credited with the first entry of the scientific name for this species.^[21]

A 2023 catalogue of bird type specimens at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands identifies an adult male, catalogued as RMNH.AVES.213951, as a syntype of Temminck’s Columba porphyracea.^[22] The catalogue records its locality as Tongatapu, and connects the specimen’s history to the voyages of British surgeon and collector George Bass, who visited Tonga in September or October 1802.^[22][23] Research suggests that Bass collected Pacific bird specimens that subsequently reached France with the Baudin expedition.^[23] However, researchers have cautioned that the origins of some early Pacific bird specimens remain uncertain because their original labels and collection records are missing.^[22][23] The specimen provides an important link between Temminck’s scientific description and Tonga, although its precise collecting history should be treated with care.^[22][23]

People in the Samoan islands refer to this bird as manutagi, which means "lamenting bird" or "crying bird".^[14][15] In 1873, missionary and naturalist Samuel James Whitmee reported that Samoans commonly kept this bird in captivity.^[14] He described how hunters carried a manutagi into the woods in an open-topped wicker cage.^[14] The dove's calls attracted other birds, including the lupe, which entered the cage and were captured to be eaten later.^[14]

Hunting of the manutagi continued into modern times in American Samoa.^[24] A survey of hunters on Tutuila in 1990–1991 estimated an annual harvest of approximately 500 manutagi after accounting for an unusually large, opportunistic harvest following a hurricane in 1990.^[24] The survey described bird hunting as a source of food and recreation, but it is important to note that these figures document twentieth-century use rather than pre-contact hunting levels.^[24] The crimson-crowned fruit dove, like the related many-colored fruit dove, may have had special spiritual connotations that made consuming or harming the bird taboo for the pre-contact Samoans, but direct documentation of the manutagi (as opposed to the manumā) in this context is lacking.^[25]

In Tonga and Niue, ornithological studies record the local name kulukulu for the crimson-crowned fruit dove.^[4][26] Research on Niue found that people did not usually hunt the species at the time of a 2004 survey.^[26] However, after Cyclone Heta damaged the island's forests, some kulukulu entered villages in search of food and water, where they became vulnerable to hunting by people and predation by other animals.^[26]

In the Samoan myth known as Sina and the Birds, the manutagi appears as one of the birds that the mythological figure Sina interacts with.^[3]

As of 2026, this species is classified as "least concern" by the IUCN Red List.^[27]