Sulu Bleeding-heart - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Sulu Bleeding-heart was originally described in 1894 as Phlogoenas menagei by Frank Swift Bourns and Dean Conant Worcester. The holotype, a male, was collected by them from the small island of Tataan off the coast of Tawi-Tawi in October 1891. The specific name, menagei, honors Louis F. Menage, a Minnesota real estate tycoon who funded the expedition. It is a member of the bleeding-heart superspecies, which includes Luzon Bleeding-heart, Mindanao Bleeding-heart, Mindoro Bleeding-heart, and Negros Bleeding-heart; these birds are so similar that some authors have considered them to be a single species. Some authors place the Sulu Bleeding-heart, the other bleeding-hearts, and the Cinnamon Ground Dove in their own subgenus, Gallicolumba. The Sulu Bleeding-heart has no known subspecies. It is also called the Tawitawi Bleeding-heart and the Tawitawi Puñalada.