Paraclaravis, new genus

Type species. Peristera mondetoura Bonaparte, 1856, currently Claravis mondetoura.

Included species. Paraclaravis mondetoura, new comb., and Paraclaravis geoffroyi (Temminck, 1811), new comb.

Diagnosis Small (18–24 cm), arboreal or semi-terrestrial doves, similar to Claravis pretiosa, but both sexes of Paraclaravis differing from C. pretiosa in having: (i) lesser upperwing-coverts marked with a single bar formed by spots on a single row of feathers; and (ii) tertials unmarked. In C. pretiosa, lesser upperwing-coverts are spotted on nearly all feathers and tertials are marked with a prominent spot on each feather (Fig. 2). Males of the two species of Paraclaravis differ from male C. pretiosa in two additional characters: (iii) extensive white on distal parts of outer rectrices (entirely black in C. pretiosa); and (iv) white under tail-coverts (slate-grey in C. pretiosa) (Ridgway 1916; Gibbs et al. 2001; Fig. 2). Females of Paraclaravis also differ from Claravis by showing: (iii) lateral rectrices broadly tipped white, light grayish brown, or light cinnamon (uniform in C. pretiosa); and (iv) under tailcoverts buffy (cinnamon or cinnamon-brown in C. pretiosa; Ridgway 1916; Fig. 2).

The two species of Paraclaravis differ from all other small ground-doves, except Claravis pretiosa, by a combination of pronounced sexual dimorphism in colouration, upperparts grey in males, tail truncated, bare orbital space small, lores wholly feathered, and wing feathers spotted with extensive markings forming three prominent dark wing bars (Ridgway 1916).

Etymology. The generic name is derived from the Greek para (beside), the Latin clarus (clear, brilliant) and the Latin avis (bird). Its gender is feminine. The name refers to the morphological resemblance of Paraclaravis mondetoura and P. geoffroyi to Claravis pretiosa.

Distribution. Paraclaravis mondetoura is found in several isolated populations from southern Mexico to northern and western Venezuela south to central Bolivia, at altitudes from 1000–3000 m. Paraclaravis geoffroyi has been found in south-eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and Misiones, Argentina, at altitudes up to 1400 m, but is now extremely rare (Baptista et al. 2016). Both species are strongly associated with bamboo.