Gallicolumba

Gallicolumba
Luzon bleeding-heart, Gallicolumba luzonica
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Subfamily: Columbinae
Genus: Gallicolumba
Heck, 1849
Type species
Columba cruenta
Gmelin, 1789
Diversity
See text
Synonyms
  • Plegoenas Reichenbach, 1851
  • Phlegoenas Reichenbach, 1852 (unj. Emend.)

Gallicolumba is a mid-sized genus of ground-dwelling doves (family Columbidae), most of which occur in rainforests on the Philippines. Local name 'punay' which is a general term for pigeons and doves. They are not closely related to the American ground doves genus (Columbina and related genera). Rather, the present genus is closest to the thick-billed ground pigeon.

The Filipino species are known as bleeding-hearts due to their vivid-red patch on the breast, which looks startlingly like a bleeding wound in some species and has reminded naturalists of a dagger stab. The diet of doves of this genus consists of fruits and seed.