The Buru mountain pigeon (''Gymnophaps mada'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of bird in the pigeon

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Indonesia and inhabits

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

and

disturbed Disturbed may refer to: Books * ''Disturbed'', a 2011 novel by Kevin O'Brien (author) Film and TV * ''Disturbed'' (film), a 1990 film starring Malcolm McDowell * "Disturbed" (''Numb3rs''), a 2009 episode of ''Numb3rs'' * "The Disturbed", a 20 ...

lowland forest on

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Ma ...

. It was formerly considered to be

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with the

Seram mountain pigeon The Seram mountain pigeon (''Gymnophaps stalkeri'') is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae that is endemic to the island of Seram in Indonesia, where it inhabits hill forest. It was long considered to be a subspecies of the Buru m ...

. It is a medium-sized pigeon long, and has a blue-grey crown and neck, darker slate-grey upperparts, and a white to pale buff-pink throat and breast that becomes buff-pink towards the belly. The species is slightly

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

, with females being smaller and having more dark red on the breast. The Buru mountain pigeon feeds on fruit. Its breeding season is thought to be from October to December. It is listed as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) 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 the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

due to a sufficiently large range and a stable population. The population is estimated to be 20,000–49,999.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Buru mountain pigeon was described as ''Columba mada'' by the German

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Ernst Hartert Ernst Johann Otto Hartert (29 October 1859 – 11 November 1933) was a widely published German ornithologist. Life and career Hartert was born in Hamburg, Germany on 29 October 1859. In July 1891, he married the illustrator Claudia Bernadine E ...

in 1899 on the basis of specimens from Mount Mada on

, Indonesia. In 1900, he stated that if the genus ''

Gymnophaps Mountain pigeons are four species of birds in the genus ''Gymnophaps'' in the pigeon family Columbidae. They are found on islands in eastern Indonesia and Melanesia, where they inhabit hill and montane forest. They mostly have dull grey, white, ...

'' (which then only contained the

Papuan mountain pigeon The Papuan mountain pigeon (''Gymnophaps albertisii'') is a species of bird in the pigeon family, Columbidae. It is found in the Bacan Islands, New Guinea, the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, and the Bismarck Archipelago, where it inhabits primary for ...

) was to be maintained, it would have to include the Buru mountain pigeon as well, although he preferred keeping both the Papuan and Buru mountain pigeons in ''

Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...

''. Later,

James L. Peters James Lee Peters (August 13, 1889 – April 19, 1952) was an American ornithologist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. Austin Peters and Francis Howie Lee on August 13, 1889. His early education was at the Roxbury Latin School, followe ...

, in his 1937 ''Check-list of the Birds of the World'', placed both of these species in ''Gymnophaps''. The name of the genus, ''Gymnophaps'', is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words γυμνος (''gumnos''), meaning bare, and φαψ (''phaps''), meaning pigeon. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''mada'' is from Mount Mada, the species' type locality (place where the first specimen of the species was found). Buru mountain pigeon is the official

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

designated by the

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

. Other common names for the species include Mada mountain pigeon and long-tailed mountain-pigeon. The Buru mountain pigeon is one of four species in the mountain pigeon genus ''Gymnophaps'', which is found in

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

and the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

. It forms a superspecies with the other species in the genus. Within its family, the genus ''Gymnophaps'' is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

to '' Lopholaimus'', and these two together form a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

sister to ''

Hemiphaga ''Hemiphaga'' is the genus containing two large species of pigeons from New Zealand. There are two subspecies of New Zealand pigeon, ''Hemiphaga novaseelandiae'': ''H. n. novaseelandiae'' of mainland New Zealand and the Norfolk pigeon (''H. n ...

''. The

was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Buru mountain pigeon, but was split on the basis of differences in appearance in 2007 by Frank Rheindt and Robert Hutchinson. The Buru mountain pigeon is now treated as having no subspecies.

Description

The Buru mountain pigeon is a medium-sized pigeon with a slender build, and long wings and tail, measuring long. Adult males have blue-grey

crowns A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

napes ''N''-Acylphosphatidylethanolamines (NAPEs) are hormones released by the small intestine into the bloodstream when it processes fat. NAPEs travel to the hypothalamus in the brain and suppress appetite. This mechanism could be relevant for treating ...

, and hindnecks, with darker mantles. The rest of the

upperparts Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

are slightly glossy dark slate-grey. The

flight feathers Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

on the wings and tail are greenish-black, while the

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

and the ends of the flight feathers on the tail have narrow pale fringes. The face, throat, and upper breast are white to pale

buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional wr ...

-pink, while the belly is buff-pink. The feathers on the upper leg are pale buff. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional enti ...

is grey, pale brown or yellow, with a red or orange outer ring. The beak is ashy-yellow with a red base, and the legs are purplish to brownish-red. The species shows slight

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

, with females being smaller on average and having more

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

on the breast, along with dark blackish-red bills and

ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

. Juveniles have browner upperparts, dusky mottling on the throat and breast, and more ochre on the belly. They also have a white-tipped grey bill, a dull red cere, and dull red legs.

Vocalisations

The Buru mountain pigeon's vocalisations are unknown, but it is likely silent most of the time like other ''Gymnophaps'' pigeons.

Distribution and habitat

The Buru mountain pigeon is

to Buru in the Maluku Islands. It mainly inhabits hill and

montane forests Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

, and occasionally visits lowland

forests to feed. It has been recorded at elevations of , but mainly occurs at .

Behaviour and ecology

Buru mountain pigeon usually occurs alone or in pairs, and in small flocks with up to 11 birds from October to December. During other parts of the year, it may also form larger groups. It roosts high in the mountains, and flies to the lowlands in the morning to feed, returning to the roosts in the evening. The species is

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance and ...

and most likely feeds on fruit in the canopy. It has been observed visiting coastal fruiting trees. The breeding season may be from October to December.

Status

The Buru mountain pigeon is listed as being of

by the

(IUCN) on the

due to a sufficiently large range and a stable population. A 1989 estimate placed its population at 43,000 individuals, and the population is currently estimated to number 20,000–49,999 birds. Montane forests throughout its range are relatively undisturbed, and the species does not seem to face any significant threats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1267937

Buru mountain pigeon The Buru mountain pigeon (''Gymnophaps mada'') is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae. It is endemic to Indonesia and inhabits montane forest and disturbed lowland forest on Buru. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with th ...

Birds of Buru

Taxa named by Ernst Hartert