Petrophassa Explained

Petrophassa, commonly known as the rock pigeons, is a small genus of doves in the family Columbidae native to Australia, and similar to bronzewing pigeons.

The genus was introduced in 1841 by the English ornithologist and bird artist John Gould with the white-quilled rock pigeon (Petrophassa albipennis) as the type species.^{[1] [2]} The genus name is a portmanteau of the Ancient Greek words petros, meaning "rock", and phassa, meaning "pigeon".^[3]

The genus contains two species:^[4]

They are not closely related to Columba livia, the rock dove (also called rock pigeon), a species which includes the domestic and feral pigeons as well as the wild species native to Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Notes and References

1. Gould . John . John Gould . 1840 . Genus Petrophassa . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . Part 8 . 173 . Although bearing the year 1840 on the title page, the volume did not appear until 1841.
2. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1937 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 3 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 117 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 300 .
4. 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 . 5 March 2020 .