The name Columbidae for the family was introduced by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1820.
Columbidae is the only living family in the order Columbiformes.
The sandgrouses (Pteroclidae) were formerly placed here, but were moved to a separate order Pterocliformes based on anatomical differences (e.g., they are unable to drink by "sucking" or "pumping"); they are now considered to be more closely related to shorebirds.
Recent phylogenomic studies support the grouping of pigeons and sandgrouse together, along with mesites, forming the sister taxon to Mirandornithes.

The Columbidae are usually divided into five subfamilies, probably inaccurately.
For example, the American ground and quail doves (Geotrygon), which are usually placed in the Columbinae, seem to be two distinct subfamilies.
The order presented here follows Baptista et al. (
1997), with some updates.

The arrangement of genera and naming of subfamilies is in some cases provisional because analyses of different DNA sequences yield results that differ, often radically, in the placement of certain (mainly Indo-Australian) genera.
This ambiguity, probably caused by long branch attraction, seems to confirm the first pigeons evolved in the Australasian region, and that the "Treronidae" and allied forms (crowned and pheasant pigeons, for example) represent the earliest radiation of the group.

The family Columbidae previously also contained the family Raphidae, consisting of the extinct Rodrigues solitaire and the dodo.
These species are in all likelihood part of the Indo-Australian radiation that produced the three small subfamilies mentioned above, with the fruit doves and pigeons (including the Nicobar pigeon).
Therefore, they are here included as a subfamily Raphinae, pending better material evidence of their exact relationships.

Exacerbating these issues, columbids are not well represented in the fossil record.
No truly primitive forms have been found to date.
The genus Gerandia has been described from Early Miocene deposits in France, but while it was long believed to be a pigeon, it is now considered a sandgrouse.
Fragmentary remains of a probably "ptilinopine" Early Miocene pigeon were found in the Bannockburn Formation of New Zealand and described as Rupephaps; "Columbina" prattae from roughly contemporary deposits of Florida is nowadays tentatively separated in Arenicolumba, but its distinction from Columbina/Scardafella and related genera needs to be more firmly established (e.g. by cladistic analysis).
Apart from that, all other fossils belong to extant genera.
The name Columbidae for the family was introduced by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1820. Columbidae is the only living family in the order Columbiformes. The sandgrouses (Pteroclidae) were formerly placed here, but were moved to a separate order Pterocliformes based on anatomical differences (e.g., they are unable to drink by "sucking" or "pumping"); they are now considered to be more closely related to shorebirds. Recent phylogenomic studies support the grouping of pigeons and sandgrouse together, along with mesites, forming the sister taxon to Mirandornithes.
The Columbidae are usually divided into five subfamilies, probably inaccurately. For example, the American ground and quail doves (Geotrygon), which are usually placed in the Columbinae, seem to be two distinct subfamilies. The order presented here follows Baptista et al. (1997), with some updates.
The arrangement of genera and naming of subfamilies is in some cases provisional because analyses of different DNA sequences yield results that differ, often radically, in the placement of certain (mainly Indo-Australian) genera. This ambiguity, probably caused by long branch attraction, seems to confirm the first pigeons evolved in the Australasian region, and that the "Treronidae" and allied forms (crowned and pheasant pigeons, for example) represent the earliest radiation of the group.
The family Columbidae previously also contained the family Raphidae, consisting of the extinct Rodrigues solitaire and the dodo. These species are in all likelihood part of the Indo-Australian radiation that produced the three small subfamilies mentioned above, with the fruit doves and pigeons (including the Nicobar pigeon). Therefore, they are here included as a subfamily Raphinae, pending better material evidence of their exact relationships.
Exacerbating these issues, columbids are not well represented in the fossil record. No truly primitive forms have been found to date. The genus Gerandia has been described from Early Miocene deposits in France, but while it was long believed to be a pigeon, it is now considered a sandgrouse. Fragmentary remains of a probably "ptilinopine" Early Miocene pigeon were found in the Bannockburn Formation of New Zealand and described as Rupephaps; "Columbina" prattae from roughly contemporary deposits of Florida is nowadays tentatively separated in Arenicolumba, but its distinction from Columbina/Scardafella and related genera needs to be more firmly established (e.g. by cladistic analysis). Apart from that, all other fossils belong to extant genera.
Columbidae