Ogooué River
The afep pigeon was described by the American ornithologist John Cassin in 1860 from a specimen collected in West Africa from the Ogooué River, Gabon. He coined the binomial name "Columba unicincta". The specific epithet combines the Latin "uni-" "one-" and "cinctus" "banded". The English name "afep" is the word for a pigeon in the Bulu language of Cameroon. The species is monotypic.