Sturnella Explained

The genus Sturnella are North American grassland birds called meadowlarks. The genus was previously lumped with the South American meadowlarks now placed in the genus Leistes.

It includes two or three species of largely insectivorous grassland birds. In all species, the male has at least a black or brown back and extensively yellow underparts.

Taxonomy and list of species

The genus Sturnella was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot with the eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna) as the type species.^{[1] [2]} The name Sturnella is a diminutive of the Latin sturnus meaning "starling".^[3]

By the early 20th century, the meadowlarks were split. Only the "yellow-breasted" meadowlarks (eastern and western meadowlarks, including Lilian's) remained in the genus Sturnella. The red-breasted and white-browed meadowlarks were moved to the genus Leistes, while the pampas meadowlark, Peruvian meadowlark and long-tailed meadowlark made up the genus Pezites, which was established by Cabanis in 1851. By the late 20th century, all meadowlarks were lumped in the genus Sturnella. In 2017, all the red-breasted meadowlarks were merged into the genus Leistes.

The genus contains three species:^[4]

Further reading

• Book: Handbook of Birds of the World, volume 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds . Josep . del Hoyo . Andrew . Elliott . David . Christie . 2011 . Lynx Edicions . Barcelona, Spain . 978-84-96553-78-1 . none .
• New World Blackbirds by Jaramillo and Burke,
• Powell . A.F.L.A. . Barker . F.K. . Lanyon . S.M. . Burns . K.J. . Klicka . J. . Lovette . I.J. . 2014 . A comprehensive species-level molecular phylogeny of the New World blackbirds (Icteridae) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 71 . 94–112 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2013.11.009 . 24291659 . 2014MolPE..71...94P . none .

External links

• Sturnella videos, photos and sounds on the Internet Bird Collection

Notes and References

1. Book: Vieillot, Louis Pierre . Louis Pierre Vieillot . 1816 . Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire . Deterville/self . Paris . 34 . French.
2. Book: Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1968 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 14 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 177 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 368 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . 2020 . Oropendolas, orioles, blackbirds . IOC World Bird List Version 10.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 9 October 2020 .