|[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note|
|I saw this Dove on my school campus yesterday morning. I recognize Indian Doves quite clearly, but this one I was not at all familiar with. A little research suggested that it could be a Turtle Dove. Fortunately, my friend Ivan has once again come to my rescue and identified the bird for me. It is a Spotted Dove. Thanks, Ivan!|
The Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis), also known as the Spotted Turtle Dove, is a pigeon which is a resident breeding bird in tropical southern Asia from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka east to south China and Southeast Asia. It is also known as the Chinese Dove, Mountain Dove, or Lace-necked Dove.
As it possesses numeous apomorphies separating it from the "typical" turtle- and collared doves (Streptopelia sensu stricto), it is here separated in the genus proposed for it, Spilopelia. DNA sequence data is quite in line with such a treatment, but would favour including the Spotted Dove's closest living relative (Laughing Dove, S. senegalensis) in Spilopelia also. While these two species are each rather autapomorphic in appearance, their behaviour and molecular data support treating them as a small and distinct genus, perhaps originating on the northern Mascarene Plateau (now submerged) or in the lands around the northern Arabian Sea, which regions are between their present-day ranges.
Argus, Luis52, siggi, jaycee has marked this note useful
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