Morphological similarities between Spanish pigeon breeds

Abstract

Relationships among 30 pigeon breeds were studied using data from 31 morphological characteristics. The relationships between breeds obtained from the study were rather congruent with the classification used by fanciers groups. The average Euclidean distance between pigeon breeds was 0.93 ± 0.16 STD. The results obtained were very compatible with those described in the literature for each classificatory group. Three large, perfectly definite clusters could be observed in this tree. A cluster was formed by Balearic nonpouter breeds and the Catalan Bare Pigeon. Another cluster occupied an intermediate position and was formed by thief pouters. They shared some remarkable peculiar features that are morphologically very different from the other breeds. A third more diversified cluster was close to the Turkish Takla Tumbler, which was used as outgroup.