Petrophassa

{{short description|Genus of birds}}

{{automatic taxobox

| image = Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon Petrophassa rufipennis, Kakadu NP, Australia 5602.jpg

| image_caption = Petrophassa rufipennis

| taxon = Petrophassa

| authority = Gould, 1841

| type_species = Petrophassa albipennis{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=66 |title= Columbidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-08-05}}

| type_species_authority = Gould, 1841

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

}}

Petrophassa, commonly known as the rock pigeons, is a small genus of doves in the family Columbidae native to Australia, and similar to bronzewing pigeons.

The genus was introduced in 1841 by the English ornithologist and bird artist John Gould with the white-quilled rock pigeon (Petrophassa albipennis) as the type species.{{ cite journal | last=Gould | first=John | author-link=John Gould | year=1840 | title=Genus Petrophassa | journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London | volume=Part 8 | page=173 | url=http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30571612 }} Although bearing the year 1840 on the title page, the volume did not appear until 1841.{{cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1937 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=3 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=117 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14477832 }} The genus name is a portmanteau of the Ancient Greek words petros, meaning "rock", and phassa, meaning "pigeon".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=300 }}

The genus contains two species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | year=2020 | title=Pigeons | work=IOC World Bird List Version 10.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/pigeons/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=5 March 2020 }}

{{Species table |genus=Petrophassa |authority-name=Gould |authority-year= 1841 |species-count=two|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Chestnut-quilled rock pigeon |binomial=Petrophassa rufipennis

|image=File:Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon Petrophassa rufipennis, Kakadu NP, Australia 5602.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Collett |authority-year=1898 |authority-not-original=

|range= Northern Territory of Australia.

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=White-quilled rock pigeon |binomial=Petrophassa albipennis

|image=File:White-quilled Rock Pigeon.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Gould |authority-year=1841 |authority-not-original=

|range=Australia

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

|P. a. albipennis {{au|Gould, 1841}}

|P. a. boothi {{au|Goodwin, 1969}}

}}

}}

{{Species table/end}}

They are not closely related to Columba livia, the rock dove (also called rock pigeon), a species which includes the domestic and feral pigeons as well as the wild species native to Europe, North Africa and Asia.