Cinnamon-bellied imperial pigeon

The cinnamon-bellied imperial pigeon or cinnamon imperial pigeon (Ducula basilica) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the northern Moluccas. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Cinnamon-bellied imperial pigeon
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae
Genus:	Ducula
Species:	D. basilica
Binomial name
Ducula basilica Bonaparte, 1854

The cinnamon-bellied imperial pigeon was formally described in 1854 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte from a specimen collected in Gilolo now Halmahera, the largest island in the Maluku Islands. He coined the current binomial name Ducula basilica.^[2] The specific epithet basilica is Latin for "magnificent" or "splendid".^[3] The cinnamon-bellied imperial pigeon was at one time considered as a subspecies of the purple-tailed imperial pigeon (Ducula rufigaster).^[4]

Two subspecies are recognised:^[5]

• D. b. basilica Bonaparte, 1854 – north Maluku Islands
• D. b. obiensis (Hartert, 1898) – Obi Islands (central Maluku Islands)

Some ornithologists treat D. b. obiensis as a separate species, the rusty imperial pigeon (Ducula obiensis).^[6]