NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Short-billed Pigeon
Patagioenas nigrirostris (P. L. Sclater, 1860)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The short-billed pigeon (Patagioenas nigrirostris) is a largish pigeon which breeds from southern Mexico south to northwestern Colombia. It is a member of a clade of Patagioenas that contains the smaller and rather plain species with characteristic calls that constitute the subgenus Oenoenas. It is found in lowland forest canopy and semi-open woodland, and builds a rudimentary platform nest out of twigs 5–30 m (16–98 ft) high in a tree or amongst vines. It lays one white egg. The short-billed pigeon is 26.5 cm (10.4 in) long and weighs 150 g (5.3 oz). It is unpatterned and mainly wine-purple in colour, becoming browner on the belly and more olive-brown on the back. The tail and primary flight feathers are blackish, the bill is black, and the legs and eyes are purple-red. The female is slightly duller and browner than the male, and the juvenile bird has a greyish brown head, neck and breast, with cinnamon scaling on the head and upperparts. The short-billed pigeon has a complex, loud and high-pitched call coo...
Wikipedia contributors, Short-billed pigeon; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:39:02.470588+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Patagioenas nigrirostris (P. L. Sclater, 1860)
- Name authority
- (P. L. Sclater, 1860)
- Common name
- Short-billed Pigeon
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Patagioenas
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderColumbiformes
- familyColumbidae
- subfamilyColumbinae
- genusPatagioenas Reichenbach, 1853
- speciesPatagioenas nigrirostris (P. L. Sclater, 1860)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Patagioenas. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Bare-eyed PigeonPatagioenas corensis (Jacquin, 1784) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Plain PigeonPatagioenas inornata (Vigors, 1827) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-crowned PigeonPatagioenas leucocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Scaled PigeonPatagioenas speciosa (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Scaly-naped PigeonPatagioenas squamosa (Bonnaterre, 1792) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-billed PigeonPatagioenas flavirostris (Wagler, 1831) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ruddy PigeonPatagioenas subvinacea (Lawrence, 1868) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Maranon PigeonPatagioenas oenops (Salvin, 1895) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chilean PigeonPatagioenas araucana (R. Lesson & Garnot, 1827) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ring-tailed PigeonPatagioenas caribaea (Jacquin, 1784) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pale-vented PigeonPatagioenas cayennensis (Bonnaterre, 1792) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Band-tailed PigeonPatagioenas fasciata (Say, 1822) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Columba chiriquensis (Ridgway, 1915) (Ridgway, 1915) | synonym |
| Columba nigrirostris P. L. Sclater, 1860 P. L. Sclater, 1860 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
South America
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=676905 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4DZDZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.