Ptilinopus prasinorrhous

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 20

*MOLUCCAN FRUIT DOVE Ptilinopus prasinorrhous

Range Small islands and islets in Teluk Cenderawasih including Rani, Wundi (Padaido Islands), Roon, Manim (not the larger island of Numfor per several authors), Mios Korwar (Mios Bepondi), possibly some islets off Yapen ( Mayr 1941, Beehler & Pratt 2016). Beehler & Pratt (2016) incorrectly assigned the Wundi record by Hoogerheide ( Junge 1956) to White-bibbed Fruit Dove P. rivoli miquelii .

Taxonomy Beehler & Pratt (2016) split P. rivoli into three species: Mountain Fruit Dove P. bellus (all of New Guinea’s mountains plus Ferguson and Goodenough Islands); White-bibbed Fruit Dove P. rivoli (a small-island supertramp on Mios Num, Yapen, the South-East islands and Bismarcks; and P. prasinorrhous (small-island specialist of New Guinea’s North-West Islands, islets in Teluk Cenderawasih, Kai Islands and south Moluccas). Conversely, Gibbs et al. (2001), del Hoyo & Collar (2014) and Baptista et al. (2020) all treated White-bibbed Fruit Dove as a single species. J. Diamond observed (in litt. 2021) that clarification of the taxonomic affinities of the single Biak specimen (see below) contributes to understanding a uniquely complex and interesting situation: four members of the same superspecies in close proximity on islands of different sizes and species richness: P. rivoli , P. bellus , P. prasinorrhous and Yellow-bibbed Fruit Dove P. solomonensis (Biak, Supiori, Padaido Islands and Numfor) .

Status Resident supertramp? On Biak known from a single specimen, an adult male, collected at Oerip, Wundi Atoll, Padaido Islands, 11 February 1954 ( Junge 1956). 6 August 2015: male seen on Rani (D. Lopez-Velasco in litt. 2021; N. Voaden, eBird checklist S24512191). Not found on Owi by Gibbs (1993), P. Gregory (in litt. 2000), D. Roberson (eBird checklist S6813691) or T. Boucher (eBird checklist S 26960957).