Blue Pigeon
The blue pigeons are a genus, ''Alectroenas'', of birds in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. They are native to islands in the western Indian Ocean. Taxonomy and evolution The genus ''Alectroenas'' was first described in 1840 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray with the Mauritius blue pigeon (''Alectroenas nitidissimus'') as the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''alektruōn'', meaning "domestic cock", and ''oinas'', meaning "pigeon". The ''Alectroenas'' blue pigeons are closely interrelated and occur widely throughout islands in the western Indian Ocean. They are allopatric and can therefore be regarded as a superspecies. There are three extant species: the Madagascar blue pigeon, the Comoros blue pigeon, and the Seychelles blue pigeon. The three Mascarene islands were home to one species each, which are all extinct; the Mauritius blue pigeon, the Rodrigues blue pigeon, and the Réunion blue pigeon. The blue pigeons perhaps colonised the Mas ...
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