Proposal (#182) to South American Classification Committee:

Add Streptopelia risoria (Ringed Turtle-Dove) to hypothetical list

An article was published fairly recently reporting on a pair of S. risoria observed and photographed recently in "wild" conditions in Norte de Santander department, Colombia (Donegan & Huertas, 2002). A photograph was recently published in an online report series with ISSN (Donegan et al., 2003) that I believe amounts to a published photograph for SACC purposes.

Evidence from local people of the region suggests that a population of S. risoria has been present in the Norte de Santander region for some time. This species is very common in captivity in South America. At two local markets in different locations, I have seen tens of these for sale. I have also observed free-flying individuals in two other locations in Colombia. A discussion of the status of this population in Colombia is presented in Donegan & Huertas (2002). This species is fairly common in captivity and has established feral populations in various locations in the world, such as in some parts of the United States of America (Florida, California and Baltimore), Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Canary Islands. Some of these populations are regarded as being self-sustaining. S. risoria has "Introduced" status in the United States (AOU checklist) and some other countries (e.g. Spain for the Canaries population).

As to Latin nomenclature, the AOU uses "Ringed Turtle-Dove Streptopelia risoria" for the U.S. populations. S. risoria (Linnaeus, 1758) appears to be a long-domesticated form of the wild African species African Collared Dove S. roseogrisea (Sundevall, 1857). Many publications cast doubt on S. risoria as a valid taxon. However, if S. risoria and S. roseogrisea are in the same species (as appears likely), S. risoria should be senior (whereas most publications use S. roseogrisea to describe the wild population). The AOU (I think correctly) use S. risoria, though I do not know if they have considered the point.

English nomenclature for Streptopelia is rather a mess, with suffixes "Dove", "Collared[-]Dove" and "Turtle[-]Dove" all used. In Europe, "Barbary Dove" is more commonly used for S. risoria, with "African Collared Dove" for S. roseogrisea. I personally prefer Barbary Dove for aesthetic reasons. However, this proposal uses "Ringed Turtle-Dove", which is the AOU's name for North American populations, assuming that AOU's SACC would follow its North American counterpart.

My view is that S. risoria should be added to the SACC's "hypothetical list". However, it should probably not yet be elevated to the full list because further research is probably necessary to determine definitively whether populations are self-sustaining.

References:

Donegan TM & Huertas BC (2002) Registro de una pareja de la Tórtola de Collar Streptopelia risoria en el departamento de Norte de Santander, Colombia. Bol. Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología Vol. VIII (Nos. 24-25): 73-76.

Donegan TM, Huertas-H BC, Briceno-L ER, Arias-B JJ & González-O CE (2003) Search for the Magdalena Tinamou: Project Report. Colombian EBA Project Report Series No. 4. Fundación ProAves, Colombia, 2003, 49 pp. www.proaves.org at p. 28. [Follow links to "Proyectos -> EBA í Reportes e informes"]

Thomas Donegan, 10 October 2005

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Comments from Remsen: "YES. Our Hypothetical List includes exotics for which there is some published evidence that they might be established, and this situation clearly falls into that category. Whether "risoria" is a valid taxon is a separate issue, it seems to me. It is widely regarded as the domesticated form of S. roseogrisea (e.g., see Goodwin 1977, HBW), and was not mentioned in Dickinson (2003). If added to our Hypothetical List, the entry would have to be appropriately flagged to indicate this."

Comments from Stiles: "YES. Especially for the hypothetical list, I see no problem. (Presumably if breeding in the "wild" and self-sustaining populations are eventually confirmed, it would graduate to the main list in some capacity?)"

Comments from Jaramillo: "NO- But perhaps on purely a technical point. The hypothetical list I understood to be a list of 1) good sight records, but no photo 2) dubious records that have been published. This is a different situation altogether, a potential self-sustaining introduced population with published photo. Perhaps the hypothetical list has not been defined as narrowly as I am defining it, and would be perfectly willing to change my mind. We may want to adopt some standard used by other committees for full inclusion to the list (10 years/generations, self sustaining?). Perhaps this has been done and I missed it, my apologies if this is the case. We could also make a list of introduced species in the same boat as the Ringed Turtle-Dove, assuming there are others (Mynas in Buenos Aires??)."

Comments from Zimmer: "My vote is a qualified one. If the only choice is to add it here or not add it anywhere, then I would vote "YES". But, like Alvaro, I would prefer to have a separate list of Introduced Species, which would seem a more appropriate repository for Streptopelia. If this is an option, then I would vote "NO" on adding it to the Hypothetical List, for reasons elucidated by Alvaro."

Comments from Nores: "YES. Pero como señalan Jaramillo y Zimmer preferiría para estos casos poner una lista de especies introducidas y no de hipotéticas. Las hipotéticas las dejaría para especies que han sido citadas alguna vez para Sudamérica, pero que habrían llegado naturalmente y no introducidas."

Comments from Pacheco: "YES. Antes da confirmação de uma população estabelecida, eu considero aceitável a permanência do táxon na lista de "hipotéticos."