They are generally quiet and do not make many vocalisations apart from a distinctive whooshing noise while leaving their high-altitude roosts to feed in the morning.

The genus was originally described by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori in 1874 and currently contains the Papuan, Seram, Buru, and pale mountain pigeons.

Mountain pigeons are arboreal (tree-inhabiting) and feed on a wide variety of fruit-like figs and drupes, mainly foraging for food in the canopy.

Nests can be of two types: a shallow depression in the forest floor or short grass; and a platform of sticks placed at a height of several metres in a tree.

[5] In 2007, the Buru and Seram mountain pigeons were again split as distinct species by the ornithologists Frank Rheindt and Robert Hutchinson on the basis of differences in appearance.

In 1963, the British ornithologist Derek Goodwin also hypothesised that Gymnophaps was more closely related to Ptilinopus and the imperial pigeon genus Ducula than Columba due to similarities in their plumage.

These three genera are further sister to another clade formed by Ptilinopus, the cloven-feathered dove, and Alectroenas, Ducula being the most basal genus in the group.

Adult males have slate-grey upperparts, chestnut-maroon throats and bellies, whitish breasts, and a pale grey terminal tail band, with bright red lores and orbital regions.

[14] The Seram mountain pigeon has a buff-pink face and breast, wine-pink underparts, a grey nape, crown, back of neck, and thighs, and dark chestnut belly and underside of the tail.

[18] Mountain pigeons are generally silent, but have been recorded giving a deep woooooo m or woom, soft whistles, a wheezy vrrhu, and a quiet vruu.

[18] The pale mountain pigeon is endemic to the Solomon Islands archipelago, where it is found on Bougainville, Kolombangara, Vangunu, Guadalcanal and Malaita.

While doing so, they can drop hundreds of metres in a single dive, making a loud whooshing noise with their wings that is distinctive of the genus.

[7] The Papuan mountain pigeon will fly long distances to visit specific species of fruiting plants;[19] others have been recorded feeding on trees near the coast.

[14] Mountain pigeons nests can be of two types: a shallow depression in the forest floor or short grass; and a platform of sticks placed at a height of several metres in a tree.

[24] The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists all four species of mountain pigeons as being of least concern due to their stable populations and sufficiently large ranges.