Pigeons and Doves (Columbidae)

Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis) - HBW 4, p. 140

French: Tourterelle maillée German: Palmtaube Spanish: Tórtola Senegalesa
Other common names: Palm/Senegal Dove, Indian Little Brown Dove

Taxonomy: Columba senegalensis Linnaeus, 1766, Senegal.
Differs distinctly in plumage and vocalizations from all congeners; possibly related to S. chinensis. Birds of São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea) sometimes awarded separate race thome, but validity very doubtful, particularly as species may be introduced here. Five subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

phoenicophila Hartert, 1916 - oases S of Atlas Mts in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
aegyptiaca (Latham, 1790) - Nile Valley, from Suez Canal and delta S to Wadi Halfa.
sokotrae C. H. B. Grant, 1914 - Socotra.

See all 5 subspecies

phoenicophila Hartert, 1916 - oases S of Atlas Mts in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
aegyptiaca (Latham, 1790) - Nile Valley, from Suez Canal and delta S to Wadi Halfa.
sokotrae C. H. B. Grant, 1914 - Socotra.
senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766) - sub-Saharan Africa and W Arabia from Medina (Saudi Arabia) S to Aden and Mukalla (S Yemen).
cambayensis (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) - E Arabia and E Iran N & E to Kazakhstan and W Xinjiang (NW China), and E to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.