Raiatea fruit dove

Raiatea fruit-dove
Illustration of a Raiatea fruit dove by Joseph Wolf
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae
Genus:	Ptilinopus
Species:	P. chrysogaster
Binomial name
Ptilinopus chrysogaster Gray, GR, 1854
Synonyms
Ptilinopus purpuratus chrysogaster

The Raiatea fruit dove (Ptilinopus chrysogaster) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Society Islands in French Polynesia. Although first named to science in 1853, this fruit dove was evidently discovered 30 years earlier, by René Primevère Lesson (1794–1849), while serving as naturalist aboard La Coquille. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the grey-green fruit dove but was split as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Distribution and population

The Raiatea fruit dove is endemic to the French Polynesian islands Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora, and, at least formerly, Maupiti. There is an estimated population of p 1000 to 2500 mature individual birds. Better population estimates after 2001 are unknown.

Threats

There is an ongoing population decline due to habitat destruction; the introduction of non-native plants, predation by invasive species such as the swamp harrier (Circus approximans) and feral cats, Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans), black rats (R. rattus) have a negative impact on the quality of the species habitat.