[2] The head, breast, and neck were bluish grey, and the tail was short, almost square shaped.

[3] It was similar in appearance with the white-capped fruit dove (Ptilinopus dupetithouarsii).

[4] The red-moustached fruit dove was endemic to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia.

[1] Described as arboreal, the red-moustached fruit dove inhabited montane forests, usually higher in altitude than the white-capped fruit dove,[3] at elevations of at least 1,370 metres (4,490 ft) above sea level.

The reason of its extinction was attributed to the predation by the introduced rats, cats, and the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus).