Pigeons and Doves (Columbidae)

Marquesas Ground-dove (Gallicolumba rubescens) - HBW 4, p. 185

French: Gallicolombe des Marquises German: Marquesastaube Spanish: Paloma-perdiz de las Marquesas
Other common names: Grey-hooded/Marquesas Quail-dove, Grey-hooded Ground-dove

Taxonomy: Columba rubescens Vieillot, 1818, Nukuhiva, Marquesas.
A very distinct form of uncertain affinities; appears to be intermediate between G. beccarii and members of the G. jobiensis superspecies, and may represent an early colonization of Marquesas by a form ancestral to both. Monotypic.

Distribution: Marquesas Is, surviving only on two uninhabited islands, Fatu Huku and Hatuta'a. First described from Nukuhiva, and archaeological remains indicate species probably once occurred throughout the archipelago (confirmed from Hivaoa, Tahuata and Uahuka).