The Saint Helena dove (''Dysmoropelia dekarchiskos'') was a species of

flightless bird Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites (ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the In ...

in the family

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

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

within the genus ''Dysmoropelia''. It was

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 the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

in the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

. It is known from remains of

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of ...

(formerly considered to be Middle Pleistocene) age found at the Sugarloaf Hill locality, which consists of aeolian

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

sands. The holotype consists of a right

coracoid A coracoid (from Greek κόραξ, ''koraks'', raven) is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is prese ...

(USNM 175955), with paratypes consisting of "distal end of right tarsometatarsus (Ashmole No. 342), (S/1963.25.29) distal half of right humerus (Ashmole No. 337), (S/1963.25.26) worn left tibiotarsus lacking distal end (Kerr No. E4), (S/ 1963.25.27) distal portion of shaft of left tarsometatarsus (Kerr No. E3), (S/1963.25.30) worn proximal end of right humerus. (USNM 175956) left ulna, (175957 and 175958) proximal fragments of left ulnae, (175959) proximal end of right femur, (175962) distal end of right humerus" It was a fairly large bird with short wings relative to body size and robust legs, with among the most extreme morphological adaptions of flightless columbids, akin to that of the

dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire. The ...

Rodrigues solitaire The Rodrigues solitaire (''Pezophaps solitaria'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Genetically within the family of pigeons and doves, it was most closely relate ...

and

Viti Levu giant pigeon The Viti Levu giant pigeon or Fiji giant ground pigeon (''Natunaornis gigoura'') is an extinct flightless pigeon of Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji. It was only slightly smaller than the dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') and Rodrigues solitair ...

. It was presumed to have been hunted to extinction soon after the island's discovery in 1502. However, no accounts of the bird exist (Introductions were made very early on in the history of Saint Helena, and the accounts are therefore less useful) and Lewis (2008) suggests the bird became extinct prior to or during the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eur ...

. It has been suggested on morphological grounds that it is most closely related to ''

Streptopelia ''Streptopelia'' is a genus of birds in the pigeon and dove family Columbidae. These are mainly slim, small to medium-sized species. The upperparts tend to be pale brown and the underparts are often a shade of pink. Many have a characteristic bla ...

'' turtle doves.

References

Columbidae Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Holocene extinctions † Birds described in 1975 Extinct birds of Atlantic islands Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{SaintHelena-stub