Madagascar green pigeon explained

The Madagascar green pigeon or Madagascan green pigeon (Treron australis) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Madagascar, Comoros, and Mayotte. The taxon griveaudi, by most authorities considered a subspecies of the Madagascan green pigeon, is sometimes considered a separate species, the Comoros green pigeon (Treron comorensis). Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Madagascar green pigeon in his Ornithologie based on specimen that he had examined. He used the French name Le pigeon ramier verd de Madagascar and the Latin Palumbus viridis madagascariensis.^[1] The species was also illustrated in Edme-Louis Daubenton's Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle.^[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.^[3] When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus revised his Mantissa Plantarum in 1771 he added an appendix which included a description of the Madagascar green pigeon. He coined the binomial name Columba australis and cited the earlier authors.^[4] The specific epithet australis is the Latin word for "southern".^[5] The species is now placed in the genus Treron that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot.^{[6] [7]}

Two subspecies are recognised:^[7]

• T. a. xenius Salomonsen, 1934 – west Madagascar
• T. a. australis (Linnaeus, 1771) – east Madagascar

Notes and References

1. Book: Brisson, Mathurin Jacques . Mathurin Jacques Brisson . 1760 . Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés . 1 . French, Latin . Paris . Jean-Baptiste Bauche . 142–143, Plate 14 fig 2 . The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
2. Book: Buffon . Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . Martinet . François-Nicolas . François-Nicolas Martinet . Daubenton . Edme-Louis . Edme-Louis Daubenton . Daubenton . Louis-Jean-Marie . Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton . 1765–1783 . Pigeon ramier verd, de Madagascar . Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle . 2 . Paris . De L'Imprimerie Royale . Plate 111 . https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35203097 .
3. Allen . J.A. . Joel Asaph Allen . 1910 . Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . 28 . 317–335 . 2246/678 .
4. Book: Linnaeus, Carl . Carl Linnaeus . 1771 . Mantissa Plantarum Altera . Regni Animalis Appendix. Aves . Latin . Laurentius Salvii . Holmiae [Stockholm] . 526 . https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42945634 .
5. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . limited . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 62 .
6. Book: Vieillot, Louis Pierre . Louis Pierre Vieillot . 1816 . Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire . Deterville/self . Paris . 49 . French.
7. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . 2020 . Pigeons . IOC World Bird List Version 10.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 23 March 2020 .