Plains lark explained

The plains lark (Corypha kabalii) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and northwest Zambia. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark.

Taxonomy

The plains lark was formally described in 1943 by the English orthithologist Charles M.N. White based on a specimen collected near Balovale (now the town of Zambezi) in northwest Zambia near the border with Angola. He considered it to be a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark and coined the trinomial name Mirafra africana kabalii.^{[1] [2]} He chose the specific epithet to honour a local collector and hunter Kabali Muzeya.^[3] The plains lark is now treated as a separate species and placed in the genus Corypha. This is based on the results of two molecular phylogenetic studies by a team of ornithologists led by Per Alström that were published in 2023 and 2024.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Three subspecies are recognised:^[6]

• C. k. malbranti (Chapin, 1946) – Gabon to south DR Congo
• C. k. kabalii (White, CMN, 1943) – northeast Angola and northwest Zambia
• C. k. irwini (da Rosa Pinto, 1968) – southeast Angola (previously synonymized with C. africana pallida)

Notes and References

1. White . Hubert Lynes . 1943 . Three new races from northern Rhodesia . Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . 64 . 19-22 [20-21] .
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Greenway . James C. Jr . 1960 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 9 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 11 .
3. Web site: Jobling . James A. . kabalii . The Key to Scientific Names . Cornell Lab of Ornithology . 12 September 2024 .
4. Alström . P. . Per Alström . Mohammadi . Z. . Enbody . E.D. . Irestedt . M. . Engelbrecht . D. . Crochet . P.-A. . Guillaumet . A. . Rancilhac . L. . Tieleman . B.I. . Olsson . U. . Donald . P.F. . Stervander . M. . 2023 . Systematics of the avian family Alaudidae using multilocus and genomic data . Avian Research . 14 . 100095 . 10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100095 . free.
5. Alström . P. . Mohammadi . Z. . Donald . P.F. . Nymark . M. . Enbody . E.D. . Irestedt . M. . Elisha . E.B. . Ndithia . H.K. . Tieleman . B.I. . Engelbrecht . D. . Olsson . U. . Rancilhac . L. . Stervander . M. . 2024 . Integrative taxonomy reveals unrecognised species diversity in African Corypha larks (Aves: Alaudidae) . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 200 . 4 . 1080-1108 . 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad107.
6. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela C. Rasmussen . August 2024 . Nicators, Bearded Reedling, larks . IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 12 September 2024 .