The white-throated quail-dove (Zentrygon frenata) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Taxonomy and systematics
The white-throated quail-dove's taxonomic history is complicated. It was originally described in genus Geotrygon, later erroneously given the binomial Oreopeleia bourcieri, and still later attained its present binomial. The four subspecies below are currently recognized. Z. f. boucieri was at one time treated as separate species by some authors. Additional subspecies have been proposed but are now generally accepted as color morphs or individual variations of one of the four accepted subspecies.
The white-throated quail-dove has these four subspecies:
Z. f. frenata (Tschudi, 1843)
Z. f. bourcieri (Bonaparte, 1855)
Z. f. subgrisea (Chapman, 1922)
Z. f. margaritae (Blake, Hoy, G, & Contino, F, 1961)
Description
The white-throated quail-dove is 30 to 34 cm (12 to 13 in) long and weighs about 311 g (11 oz), making it among the largest quail-doves. The adult nominate subspecies Z. f. frenata male's forehead and the lower part of the face are buff and the crown blue-gray. The mantle is deep purple and the rest of the upperparts reddish brown. The throat is white, the breast gray, and the belly and flanks dark buff. Females are browner rather than gray; juveniles are similar to the female with the addition of dark barring on both the upper and underparts. The other subspecies differ somewhat in the colors of their heads.
Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of white-throated quail-dove are found from north to south thus:
Z. f. bourcieri - western Colombia and western and eastern Ecuador
Z. f. subgrisea - southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru
Z. f. frenata - northern Peru to central Bolivia
Z. f. margaritae - southern Bolivia and far northwestern Argentina
They inhabit humid evergreen montane forest in the Andes, usually between 900 and 3,000 m (3,000 and 9,800 ft) but sometimes...
