Nesoenas Salvadori, 1893

Hume, Julian Pender, 2011, 3124, Zootaxa 3124, pp. 1-62 : 6-7

Genus Nesoenas Salvadori, 1893 .

Trocaza Bonaparte, 1854 , vol xxxix, p. 1104. Type: Nesoenas mayeri .

Trocaza mayeri Shelley, 1883, p.281 .

Nesoenas Salvadori, 1893 , vol. xxi., p.240 (in key) p.327. Type, by original designation and monotypy, Columba mayeri Prévost & Knip, 1843 , vol.ii, p.113, pl. 60.

Etymology: Greek nesos, island, and oinas, pigeon.

Diagnosis: Nesoenas is distinguished from all other Mascarene species of Columbidae by the following suite of characters: cranium, os lacrimale narrow, fonticulus orbitocranialis small with comparatively large orbits; sternum, reduced carina sterni in N. mayeri and N. rodericana , fenestra medialis absent or minute in the former, apex carinae indistinct, foramen pneumaticum deep within a distinct groove; humerus, crista bicipitalis forming a sharp right angle to shaft, deep incisura capitis, expanded distal and proximal ends with processus supracondylaris dorsalis situated further proximally, shaft proportionately more robust; femur, crista trochanteris comparatively less distinct; tibiotarsus, proportionately more robust on proximal and distal ends; tarsometatarsus comparatively long and gracile, lacks distinct proximally directed crista medialis hypotarsi.

Remarks: Studies of DNA have shown that N. mayeri appears to be derived from species traditionally placed in Streptopelia , is a sister taxon to Nesoenas (Streptopelia) picturata , and is closely related to a second clade comprising Streptopelia chinensis and Stigmatopelia (Streptopelia) senegalensis ( Johnson et al. 2001) . The morphological distinctiveness, geographical distribution and comparatively rapid divergence of the Nesoenas clade warrant generic separation (cf. Cheke (2005). The ancestors of typical wood pigeons ( Columba ) and turtle doves ( Nesoenas [ Streptopelia ]) diverged into three groups some 8 mya (ibid.), one of which included the modern N. picturata and N. mayeri ( Johnson et al. 2001; Cheke & Hume 2008). Africa and Australasia are depauperate in species of Columba / Nesoenas , but there are closely related species, e.g. Stigmatopelia , in south-east Asia ( Cheke 2005). Therefore, as with parrots ( Hume 2007), south-east Asia may have been the original source of Nesoenas .