Pigeons and Doves (Columbidae)

Spinifex Pigeon (Geophaps plumifera) - HBW 4, p. 154

French: Colombine plumifère German: Rotschopftaube Spanish: Paloma Plumífera
Other common names: Plumed Pigeon, Rust-coloured Bronzewing; Red-plumed Pigeon, Western/Red-bellied Plumed-pigeon (ferruginea); White-bellied Plumed-pigeon (plumifera)

Taxonomy: Geophaps plumifera Gould, 1842, Northern Territory.
Genus belongs to the large radiation of Australian bronzewings, which also includes the genera Phaps, Ocyphaps and Petrophassa and, more distantly, Henicophaps and Chalcophaps; genus sometimes lumped into Petrophassa. Present species sometimes isolated in monotypic genus Lophophaps. Race ferruginea has occasionally been treated as separate species; at the other extreme, some authors have considered the variation as referring to colour morphs. Three subspecies normally recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

ferruginea (Gould, 1865) - Western Australia, from De Grey R S to Gascoyne R and E to Carnarvon Range; isolated population of intergrades in W Kimberley (E to Camballin).
plumifera Gould, 1842 - Western Australia from Edgar Range through Kimberley region into W Northern Territory, E to Top Springs.
leucogaster (Gould, 1867) - C & E Australia from Petermann Ranges NE to base of Cape York Peninsula, and from McArthur R and Banka Banka S to L Frome (CE South Australia).