Emerald-spotted Wood Dove
Turtur chalcospilos (Wagler, 1827)
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.

Mphafa Hide, iMfolozi Game Reserve, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, Kwazulu-Natal, SOUTH AFRICA
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The emerald-spotted wood dove or emerald-spotted dove (Turtur chalcospilos) is a bird of the family Columbidae, resident across eastern and southern Africa. It is a species of open drier deciduous woodland and second growth. It is absent from evergreen rainforests and semidesert areas.
Wikipedia contributors, Emerald-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 2026-10-05T11:11:30.665346+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Turtur chalcospilos (Wagler, 1827)
- Name authority
- (Wagler, 1827)
- Common name
- Emerald-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 chalcospilos (Wagler, 1827)
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 |
| Blue-spotted Wood DoveTurtur afer (Linnaeus, 1766) | 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=177219 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:59R5V. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.