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 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 & 247-248.

Order COLUMBIFORMES: Pigeons and Doves Suborder COLUMBAE: Pigeons and Doves Family Illiger: Pigeons and Doves Columbini Illiger, 1811: Prodromus Syst. Mamm. Avium: 243 – Type 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); 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 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 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 Hemiphaga Bonaparte Hemiphaga Bonaparte, 1854: Compt. Rend. Séa. Acad. Sci., Paris 39: 1076 – Type species (by original designation) Columba novaeseelandiae Gmelin = Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae (Gmelin).

Hemiphaga chathamensis (Rothschild) Chatham Island Pigeon Carpophaga chathamensis Rothschild, 1891: Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1891 (21): 312, pl. 28 – Chatham Island. Carpophaga chathamica Forbes, 1892: Nature 46: 252 – Chatham Islands. Carpophaga chathamiensis Rothschild; Buller 1896, Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 28: 348. Unjustified emendation. Hemiphaga chathamensis (Rothschild); Buller 1905, Suppl. Birds N.Z. 1: 41. Hemiphaga Chathamensis (Rothschild); Hamilton 1909, Hand-list Birds New Zealand: 3. Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae chathamensis (Rothschild); Checklist Committee 1953, Checklist N.Z. Birds: 53.

Chatham Islands: originally on Chatham, Mangere and Pitt Islands, but now breeding only on Chatham (Aikman & Miskelly 2004). Common as a Holocene fossil on Chatham, Mangere and Pitt Islands (Millener 1999, Tennyson & Millener 1994). Abundant in middens on Chatham Island (Sutton & Marshall 1977, Marshall et al. 1987). Differences in plumage and skeletal morphology, compared to mainland birds, support the original species status of the Chatham Islands population (Higgins & Davies 1996, Millener & Powlesland 2001).