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"]
Anonymous, 10 October 2005
________________________________________________________________________________________
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 taxon na lista de "hipotéticos."