Ramphiculus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ramphiculus | |
|---|---|
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| Sula fruit dove Ramphiculus mangoliensis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Columbiformes |
| Family: | Columbidae |
| Subfamily: | Ptilinopinae |
| Genus: | Ramphiculus Bonaparte, 1854 |
| Type species | |
| Ptilonopus occipitalis Gray, 1844 | |
Ramphiculus is a genus of fruit doves in the family Columbidae. They are restricted to the Philippines and Sulawesi apart from the Jambu fruit dove that occurs on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. These are colourful frugivorous doves that are found in forests and woodlands.
The genus Ramphiculus was introduced in 1854 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte who listed two species but did not specify a type species.[1] In 1855 the English zoologist George Gray designated the type as Ptilonopus occipitalis Gray GR, 1844, the yellow-breasted fruit dove.[2] The genus name is a diminutive of the Ancient Greek ῥαμφη/rhamphē meaning "bill".[3]
The species placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Ptilinopus. A molecular genetic study published in 2014 found that the fruit dove genus Ptilinopus was paraphyletic.[4] In a step towards creating monophyletic genera, two species were moved from Ptilinopus to Megaloprepia and nine species were moved from Ptilinopus to Ramphiculus.[5]
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