Plateau lark explained

The plateau lark (Corypha nigrescens) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in east Zambia, north Malawi and south Tanzania. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark.

Taxonomy

The plateau lark was formally described in 1900 by the German ornithologist Anton Reichenow based on a specimen collected in Tanzania north of Lake Malawi on the Kitulo Plateau. He considered it to be a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark and coined the trinomial name Mirafra africana nigrescens.[1] The specific epithet is from Latin nigrescens, nigrescentis meaning "blackish".[2] The plateau 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 group of ornithologists led by Per Alström that were published in 2023 and 2024.[3] [4] [5]

Two subspecies are recognised:[5]

Notes and References

  1. Reichenow . Anton . Anton Reichenow . 1900 . Neue Forschungen in Deutsch-Ostafrika . Ornithologische Monatsberichte . 8 . 3 . 38-40 [39] . German .
  2. Web site: Jobling . James A. . nigrescens . The Key to Scientific Names . Cornell Lab of Ornithology . 13 September 2024 .
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 .

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