African Olive Pigeon
Columba arquatrix Temminck, 1808
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.

African Olive Pigeon (Columba arquatrix), Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa
Christiaan Viljoen · 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 African olive pigeon or Rameron pigeon (Columba arquatrix) is a pigeon which is a resident breeding bird in much of eastern and southern Africa from Ethiopia to the Cape. Populations also are found in western Angola, southwestern Saudi Arabia and northern Yemen. It is locally common, although sizeable gaps in its distribution occur due to its habitat requirements. Despite this, the species is monotypic, with no substantive variation between birds in the different areas it occurs in.
Wikipedia contributors, African olive pigeon; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:45:34.949859+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Columba arquatrix Temminck, 1808
- Name authority
- Temminck, 1808
- Common name
- African Olive Pigeon
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Columba
- 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
- subfamilyColumbinae
- genusColumba Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesColumba arquatrix Temminck, 1808
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Columba. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| White-collared PigeonColumba albitorques Rüppell, 1837 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-eyed PigeonColumba eversmanni Bonaparte, 1856 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Stock DoveColumba oenas Linnaeus, 1758 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cameroon Olive PigeonColumba sjostedti Reichenow, 1901 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| Nilgiri Wood PigeonColumba elphinstonii (Sykes, 1832) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| Speckled Wood PigeonColumba hodgsonii Vigors, 1832 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| Western Bronze-naped PigeonColumba iriditorques Cassin, 1856 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Laurel PigeonColumba junoniae Hartert, 1916 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| Andaman Wood PigeonColumba palumboides (Hume, 1873) | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common Wood PigeonColumba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Trocaz PigeonColumba trocaz Heineken, 1829 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| White-naped PigeonColumba albinucha Sassi, 1911 | ColumbidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
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=555615 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:XBF3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.