Premium
AFFINITIES OF THE FRUIT‐PIGEON PTILINOPUS PEROUSII PEALE
Author(s) -
CAIN A. J.
Publication year - 1954
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1954.tb04113.x
Subject(s) - biology , genus , zoology , species group , predation , ecology , taxonomy (biology)
Summary.1 The purpuratus species‐group of the genus Ptilinopus includes, besides the species listed by Ripley and Birckhead (1942), P. pulchellus and P. superbus , 2 The peculiar Fijian species P. perousii is more closely related to P. superbus than to any other member of the species‐group. In cqmparison with P. superbus it shows a simplification of colour pattern and loss of protective colouration in the male, which is to be expected of a species evolving in the absence of close relatives and under the influence of only a low degree of visual predation. 3 The trends of colour‐pattern seen in P. perousii are shown to an even greater extent by members of the luteovirens species‐group, which have lived under similar conditions, but for a longer time.