Rheindt, Frank E

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Kukila 14 2009 Short Communication 59First Nest and Egg Description of the New GuineaBronzewing Henicophaps albifrons and ItsPhylogenetic SignificanceFRANK E. RHEINDTHarvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, 26 Oxford St.,Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. Email: frankrheindt@yahoo.com.auRingkasan. Marga Henicophaps merupakan anggota dasar dari kelompok burungmerpati tanah di Australasia yang tersebar secara radial dan dalam bahasa Inggris diberinama Bronzewing. Terkait dengan kelompok burung ini, tulisan tentang sarang dan telurDelimukan Tembaga H. albifrons ini akan memberikan informasi kunci dan deskripsipenting mengenai evolusi persarangan di dalam kelompok Bronzewing. Sarang panggungyang berbentuk mangkuk dari Henicophaps menambah dukungan kepada dugaan bahwasusunan sarang yang ditemukan pada beberapa jenis Bronzewing Australia di habitatterbuka barangkali tidak mencirikan cikal bakal dan karakteristik seperti kelompokburung Bronzewing.The genus Henicophaps is the most basal member of an Australasian radiation ofground-dwelling doves that is generally known as the bronzewing assemblage.This bronzewing clade includes at least four other groups: (1) the Gallicolumbaground-doves and bleeding-hearts from Wallacea, Papua, Oceania and thePhilippines; (2) a close-knit group from the Australian arid zone that comprisesthe Petrophassa rock-pigeons, and bronzewings of the genera Phaps andGeophaps; (3) the Wonga Pigeon Leucosarcia melanoleuca of eastern Australia;and (4) the Australasian zebra doves and allies of the genus Geopelia (Pereira etal. 2007). While groups 2 and 4 (i.e. Petrophassa, Phaps, Geophaps andGeopelia) live in open habitats, the three phylogenetically most basal bronzewinggenera (Henicophaps, Gallicolumba and Leucosarcia) inhabit rainforests.Another such forest-inhabiting genus, Chalcophaps (emerald doves), has longbeen thought to be sister to Henicophaps (Baptista et al. 1997) but is unrelated tothe bronzewing assemblage (Pereira et al. 2007). In contrast, the Crested PigeonOcyphaps lophotes from Australian arid and semi-arid habitats is probably amember of the bronzewing assemblage, but was not sampled by Pereira et al.(2007).The genus Henicophaps comprises only two species which have often beenunited into a superspecies (Baptista et al. 1997; Mayr & Diamond 2001): (1) theNew Guinea Bronzewing H. albifrons from New Guinea and neighbouringislands, (2) and the New Britain Bronzewing H. foersteri from New Britain.Little is known about breeding behaviour and phenology in either species. Withrespect to H. albifrons, Baptista et al. (1997) state that the nesting behaviour isKukila 14 2009 Short Communication 60undescribed, but that breeding apparently takes place in the dry season and theearly wet season based on the observation of juveniles and anatomical evidence.The only information available on H. foersteri is a number of local accountssuggesting that the nest is placed low in a shrub or a tree, and that two eggs arelaid (Baptista et al. 1997).In contrast to Henicophaps, nests and eggs are described for all other generaof the bronzewing assemblage. Indeed, in most genera (Leucosarcia,Petrophassa, Geophaps, Ocyphaps and Phaps), nests and eggs have beendescribed for every constituent species (Baptista et al. 1997). In the remainingtwo genera, nesting information is only lacking for a number of obscure or rareisland-inhabiting Gallicolumba species and for the Barred Dove Geopeliamaugei from the Lesser Sunda Islands, which has been considered conspecificwith other members of the genus and presumably resembles them in breedingbehaviour (Baptista et al. 1997).As a rule, members of the bronzewing assemblage build scant to substantialplatforms made out of twigs and other plant material, and placed on branches,roots, forks and stumps up to 5 m above the ground – rarely higher – or on theground. However, in some species of open habitat, such as Petrophassa rock-pigeons, Geophaps bronzewings and the Flock Bronzewing Phaps histrionica,nests are reduced to hollows or scrapes on the ground, often lined with grasses.Most members of the bronzewing assemblage lay two white (sometimes cream-coloured) eggs, but clutches with one egg have been reported in five out of tenGallicolumba species for which this information is available (Baptista et al.1997). In view of their basal phylogenetic position within the bronzewingassemblage, breeding information on the genus Henicophaps offers potential toshed light on the evolution of nesting biology within the assemblage.Nest and egg of H. albifronsThe following observation took place on 3 September 2008 during ornithologicalfieldwork around the village of Woos (02° 50-59’S, 132° 40-49’E; 20-30 m asl)in alluvial swamp forest along the road from Fakfak to Bomberai on the FakfakPeninsula in Papua Barat (West Papua, Indonesia). At about 11:00 hrs, as I wasjumping across a slow stream, I noticed a peculiar bare branch reaching almostall the way across the water. On the branch, at about 1.5 m above the water level,I discerned a nest with a large pigeon sitting on top of it. The pigeon wasinstantly recognizable as a New Guinea Bronzewing H. albifrons on account ofits large size, unusually long dark bill, contrasting white forehead and generalsooty purple colouration. Upon crossing the stream, I slowly walked towards thenest site, but accidentally approached it too closely, thereby flushing the bird,which flew about 10-20 m to the other side of the stream, landed on the forestfloor and walked off into the dense vegetation.The nest was a cupped platform made out of twigs and small branches(Plate 1). Its diameter was c. 30 cm, while its average height was c. 5-10 cm. ItKukila 14 2009 Short Communication 61©FrankE.Rheindtcontained a single bright white egg of an estimated length of 4 cm. After taking aphotograph of the nest, I immediately left the area to avoid further disturbance.Since the nest was only 400 m away from the village, I briefly visited it again thenext morning, but found it unattended, with the single white egg still positionedthe same way as on the previous day.Evolutionary history of nesting biology in bronzewingsThis report constitutes the first full description of a nest belonging to a memberof the genus Henicophaps. The record falls within the local dry season (fidevillagers), although local seasonality is becoming confused according to thevillagers’ statements that the dry seasons of the past four years have been equallyhumid as wet seasons. The nest is typical for members of the bronzewingassemblage in that it comprised a cupped platform made of twigs and was placedon a branch in the low stratum. Although a number of more recently evolvedbronzewing genera of open habitats (e.g. Petrophassa, Phaps and Geophaps) arecharacterized by reduced nest structures placed on the ground, the Henicophapsnest underscores that platforms made of twigs and placed in trees or bushes areprobably an ancestral trait of the bronzewing assemblage.In terms of clutch size, the current finding is somewhat surprising. With theexception of a number of Gallicolumba species that lay a single egg, all membersof the bronzewing assemblage invariably lay two eggs. Even in the congeneric H.foersteri from New Britain, anecdotal evidence suggests a clutch size of two(Baptista et al. 1997). Field observations of one egg such as documented abovecan be equivocal in that they may occur at a time when the hen has only laid thefirst of two eggs. Indeed, this may have been the case in the documentation ofsingle-egg clutches in some of the Gallicolumba species, such as the MindanaoBleeding-heart G. criniger, where the observation of a clutch size of one was alsoPlate 1. Nest and egg ofNew Guinea BronzewingHenicophaps albifrons,FakFak Peninsula, WestPapua.Kukila 14 2009 Short Communication 62based on a freshly laid egg (Baptista et al. 1997). On the other hand, thecombination of single-egg and double-egg clutches is known only from the twomost basal genera of the bronzewing assemblage (forest-inhabiting Henicophapsand Gallicolumba). This variation may suggest that the strict adherence todouble-egg clutches in some of the more derived genera of open habitats is not anancestral condition, but may have been favoured by conditions in aridenvironments.I would like to thank Pak Yoel of Woos Village for accommodating me during my stay.Warm thanks also go to Pak Dominggus of Woos Village for accompanying me along theforest trails. Bruce Beehler, Richard Noske and Jared Diamond deserve warm thanks forhelpful comments on the manuscript.ReferencesBaptista, L.F., P.W. Trail & H.M. Horblit. 1997. Family Columbidae (Pigeons andDoves). Pp. 60-245 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (eds.) Handbook of theBirds of the World, Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.Mayr, E. & J. Diamond. 2001. The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology,and Biogeography. Oxford University Press, New York.Pereira, S.L., K.P. Johnson, D.H. Clayton & A.J. Baker. 2007. Mitochondrial and nuclearDNA sequences support a Cretaceous origin of Columbiformes and a dispersal-driven radiation in the Paleogene. Systematic Biology 56: 656-672.----

First Nest and Egg Description of the New Guinea Bronzewing Henicophaps albifrons and its Phylogenetic Significance

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First Nest and Egg Description of the New Guinea Bronzewing Henicophaps albifrons and its Phylogenetic Significance

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