Claret-breasted fruit dove facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Claret-breasted fruit dove |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Ptilinopus
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| Species: |
viridis
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| Synonyms | |
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Columba viridis Linnaeus, 1766 |
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The claret-breasted fruit dove (Ptilinopus viridis) is a beautiful and colorful bird that lives in the Moluccas, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. These doves prefer to live in warm, wet forests found in low-lying areas. They are known for their bright green feathers and a special patch of deep red on their chest, which gives them their name!
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Meet the Claret-breasted Fruit Dove: Its Scientific Name
Have you ever wondered how scientists give names to animals? It's called taxonomy, which is like a special system for organizing all living things. This helps scientists around the world understand each other when talking about different species.
How Scientists Name Birds
In 1766, a famous Swedish scientist named Carl Linnaeus gave this dove its first scientific name, Columba viridis. He used a system called binomial nomenclature, which means every species gets a two-part Latin name. The first part is the genus, and the second part is the specific name.
The word viridis is Latin for "green." This makes sense because the claret-breasted fruit dove is mostly green! Today, this bird is placed in the genus Ptilinopus, which was named by an English scientist, William John Swainson, in 1825.
Different Types of Claret-breasted Fruit Doves
Just like people can have different looks depending on where they live, some animals have slightly different groups called subspecies. Scientists recognize six different subspecies of the claret-breasted fruit dove. Each one lives in a specific area:
- P. v. viridis (Linnaeus, 1766) – Found in the southern Maluku Islands.
- P. v. pectoralis (Wagler, 1829) – Lives in the Raja Ampat Islands and northwest New Guinea.
- P. v. geelvinkianus Schlegel, 1871 – Found on islands in Cenderawasih Bay.
- P. v. salvadorii Rothschild, 1892 – Lives in northern New Guinea and Yapen Island.
- P. v. vicinus Hartert, 1895 – Found on the Trobriand Islands and D'Entrecasteaux Islands.
- P. v. lewisii Ramsay, EP, 1882 – Lives on Manus Island, Lihir Island, Nissan Island, and the western Solomon Islands.
What Does the Claret-breasted Fruit Dove Look Like?
This beautiful fruit dove is about 20 to 21 centimeters (around 8 inches) long. Imagine a bird about the size of a small pigeon!
Its feathers are mostly a bright, vibrant green. But the most striking feature is a clear patch of dark reddish-brown feathers on its throat and upper chest. This "claret" (a deep red color) patch is how it got its name. The bird also has a pretty bluish-grey color on its face, the top of its head, and a small patch on its shoulder.
