The Zealandian dove was described from a single carpometacarpus recovered from 19–16 million-year-old (early Miocene) lake-bed deposits along the true left bank of the Manuherikia River, St Bathans, central Otago.

The Zealandian dove was possibly related to the Samoan tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris), crowned pigeons (Goura spp.) and the Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica).

The genus is named after Delia Frias (b. 1924), maternal grandmother of Vanesa De Pietri.  'Delia' is also an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis. The Pleiades, who were companions to Artemis, were transformed into a flock of doves by Zeus, before being placed among the stars. The species name zealandiensis refers to the continent of Zealandia.

The holotype left carpometacarpus (NMNZ S.51495) is held at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. A proximal right coracoid (MNNZ S.50948) and a partial right ulna (NMNZ S.42430) from the same deposit are tentatively referred to this taxon.

References

De Pietri, V.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Hand, S.J.; Worthy, T.H. 2018. The diversity of early Miocene pigeons (Columbidae) in New Zealand. Pp 49–68. In: Acosta Hospitaleche, C.; Agnolin, F.L.; Haidr, N.; Noriega, J.I.; Tambussi, C.P. (Eds) Paleontología y Evolución de las Aves. Proceedings of the 9th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution. Contribuciones del MACN 7, 2017.

Recommended citation

Miskelly, C.M. 2022. Zealandian dove. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz