NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Spotted Green Pigeon
Caloenas maculata (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
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.
Spotted Green Pigeon Caloenas maculata, sole surviving specimen at World Museum, Liverpool.
Clemency Fisher · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The spotted green pigeon or Liverpool pigeon (Caloenas maculata) is a species of pigeon which is most likely extinct. It was first mentioned and described in 1783 by John Latham, who had seen two specimens of unknown provenance and a drawing depicting the bird. The taxonomic relationships of the bird were long obscure, and early writers suggested many different possibilities, though the idea that it was related to the Nicobar pigeon (C. nicobarica) prevailed, and it was therefore placed in the same genus, Caloenas. Today, the species is only known from a specimen kept in World Museum, Liverpool. Overlooked for much of the 20th century, it was recognised as a valid extinct species by the IUCN Red List only in 2008. It may have been native to an island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean, and it has been suggested that a bird referred to as titi by Tahitian islanders was this bird.
Wikipedia contributors, Spotted green pigeon; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:53:17.194114+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Caloenas maculata (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
- Name authority
- (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
- Common name
- Spotted Green Pigeon
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Caloenas
- Extinction status
- Recorded extinct
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
- subfamilyRaphinae
- genusCaloenas G. R. Gray, 1840
- speciesCaloenas maculata (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
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=1125232 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:PY9R. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.