哀鸽属（学名：Zenaida）由为数不多的7种美洲鸽组成，如下：

DNA串行分析（Johnson & Clayton，2000年）已确认白翅哀鸽和南美哀鸽最为独特，因此二者应被视为优良物种。其他物种间的关系也是明确的，而不太清楚的是，加岛哀鸽是否与鸣哀鸽的亲缘最接近（暂时用形态学的观点来说明），或是与斑颊哀鸽和哀鸽的亲缘最接近（如DNA串行所表明，不过可靠性很低，大且算是生物地理学解释）。

哀鸽属的学名Zenaida是为了纪念塞奈达·莱提西娅·朱莉·波拿巴，法国鸟类学家夏尔·吕西安·波拿巴的妻子。

The zenaida doves (Zenaida) make up a small genus of American doves. There are 7 species:

DNA sequence analysis confirms that the white-winged and west Peruvian doves are the most distinct and that they should be treated as good species. Relationships among the other species are quite unequivocal too; what is not quite clear is whether the Galapagos dove is most closely related to the zenaida dove (as tentatively indicated by morphology) or to the eared and mourning doves (as suggested by DNA sequences — although with a very low confidence level – and, most robustly, biogeography). The name of this genus commemorates Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte, wife of the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte and niece of Napoleon Bonaparte.