Columbids

Exacerbating these issues, columbids are not well represented in the fossil record.[26] No truly primitive forms have been found to date.[citation

needed] The genus Gerandia has been described from Early Miocene deposits in France, but while it was long believed to be a pigeon,[27] it is now considered a sandgrouse.[28] Fragmentary remains of a probably “ptilinopine” Early Miocene pigeon were found in the

Bannockburn Formation of New Zealand and described as Rupephaps;[28] “Columbina” prattae from roughly contemporary deposits of Florida is nowadays tentatively separated in Arenicolumba, but its distinction from Columbina/Scardafella and related genera

needs to be more firmly established (e.g. by cladistic analysis).[29] Apart from that, all other fossils belong to extant genera.[30]