Plateau lark

Plateau lark
In Kitulo National Park, Tanzania
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Genus: Corypha
Species:
C. nigrescens
Binomial name
Corypha nigrescens
(Reichenow, 1900)

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]

  • C. n. nigrescens (Reichenow, 1900) – northeast Zambia and south Tanzania
  • C. n. nyikae (Benson, 1939) – east Zambia, north Malawi and southwest Tanzania

References

  1. ^ Reichenow, Anton (1900). "Neue Forschungen in Deutsch-Ostafrika". Ornithologische Monatsberichte (in German). 8 (3): 38-40 [39].
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. "nigrescens". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  3. ^ Alström, P.; 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. doi:10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100095.
  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. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad107.
  5. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Nicators, Bearded Reedling, larks". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 12 September 2024.


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