NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Blue-spotted Wood Dove
Turtur afer (Linnaeus, 1766)
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.
A Blue-spotted Wood Dove in Gambia.
Thomas Brown · CC BY 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The blue-spotted wood dove or blue-spotted dove (Turtur afer) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae.
It is abundantly present throughout Africa south of the Sahel; it is partially present in East Africa and absent in southern Africa.
Wikipedia contributors, Blue-spotted wood dove; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:52:05.999056+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Turtur afer (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Common name
- Blue-spotted Wood Dove
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Turtur
- 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
- subfamilyTreroninae
- genusTurtur Boddaert, 1783
- speciesTurtur afer (Linnaeus, 1766)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Turtur. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black-billed Wood DoveTurtur abyssinicus (Sharpe, 1902) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Emerald-spotted Wood DoveTurtur chalcospilos (Wagler, 1827) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tambourine DoveTurtur tympanistria (Temminck, 1809) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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=563621 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.
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:59R5T. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.