Text extracted from Gill B.J.; Bell, B.D.; Chambers, G.K.; Medway, D.G.; Palma, R.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. 4th edition. Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Pages 244-246.

Order COLUMBIFORMES: Pigeons and Doves Suborder COLUMBAE: Pigeons and Doves Family COLUMBIDAE Illiger: Pigeons and Doves Columbini Illiger, 1811: Prodromus Syst. Mamm. Avium: 243 – Type genus Columba Linnaeus, 1758.

Recent classifications of pigeons (e.g. del Hoyo & Sargatal 1997) usually divide the family into five subfamilies: Columbinae Illiger, 1811 (mainly seed-eating pigeons); Treroninae G.R. Gray, 1840 (fruit- eating pigeons); Gourinae G.R. Gray, 1840 (crowned pigeons); and the monotypic Otidiphapinae Verheyen, 1957 (pheasant pigeon) and Didunculinae G.R. Gray, 1848 (Samoan tooth-billed pigeon). The dodo and solitaire, often distinguished as the family Raphidae Wetmore, 1930, should be included within Columbidae (e.g. Kitchener 1993). Recent molecular studies by Johnson & Clayton (2000), Johnson et al. (2001) and Shapiro et al. (2002) show that all these taxa form a monophyletic clade, but do not support the division into the above subfamilies. Here we follow the generic order given by del Hoyo & Sargatal (1997). As both the ordinal status and subfamilial groupings are only partly supported by recent molecular work, future revisions of pigeon higher taxonomy are likely. For this reason we refrain from using subfamilial groupings.

Gray (1862: 232) listed Phaps picata (Latham, 1802) (= Leucosarcia melanoleuca (Latham, 1802), wonga pigeon) and Phaps chalcoptera (Latham, 1790) (= common bronzewing) from Norfolk Island. These species records have not been substantiated by specimens or by subsequent records of the same species on that island, so we have omitted them from the Norfolk Island list.

Genus *Streptopelia Bonaparte Streptopelia Bonaparte, 1855: Compt. Rend. Séa. Acad. Sci., Paris 40: 17 – Type species (by subsequent designation) Columba risoria Linnaeus = Streptopelia risoria (Linnaeus, 1758).

*Streptopelia chinensis (Scopoli) Spotted Dove Columba chinensis Scopoli, 1786: Delic. Flor. Faun. insubr. 2: 94 – Canton, China.

South-east Asia from India to south China and Indonesia. Introduced to Australia, New Zealand, New Britain, Fiji, Hawai’i, California, and Mauritius.

*Streptopelia chinensis tigrina (Temminck) Spotted Dove Columba Tigrina Temminck, 1810: in P. Knip & J.C.Temminck, Les Pigeons, les Colombes: 94, pl. 43 – Java and Timor, Indonesia. Turtur tigrinus minor Parrot, 1907: Abh. Kl. Bayer Akad. Wiss. 24(1): 275 – Sumatra, Indonesia. Streptopelia chinensis tigrina (Temminck); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 53.

Bangaldesh, Burma, South-east Asia. A common cage-bird introduced to New Britain, Fiji, and parts of Australia. Feral in Auckland since the 1920s, and steadily expanding its range. Now firmly established in the greater Auckland area from Warkworth to Firth of Thames, and in the Whangarei and Bay of Plenty areas (Heather & Robertson 1996; Robertson, C. et al. 2007).