''Calandrella'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lark Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occ ...

s in the family

Alaudidae Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occ ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The

''Calandrella'' was established by the German naturalist

Johann Jakob Kaup Johann Jakob von Kaup (10 April 1803 – 4 July 1873) was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup ...

in 1829 with the

greater short-toed lark The greater short-toed lark (''Calandrella brachydactyla'') is a small passerine bird. The current scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name, ''Calandrella'', is a diminutive of ''kalandros'', the calandra lark, and ''brachydactila' ...

as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The genus name is a diminutive of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''kalandros'', the

calandra lark The calandra lark (''Melanocorypha calandra'') or European calandra-lark breeds in warm temperate countries around the Mediterranean and eastwards through Turkey into northern Iran and southern Russia. It is replaced further east by its relative ...

. Four of the species in the genus use the shortened name of short-toed lark as an alternate name.

Extant species

Six species are recognized in the genus:

Extinct species

At least one fossil species is included in this genus: * †''Calandrella gali'' (late Miocene of Polgardi, Hungary)

Former species

Some authorities have classified the following species as belonging to the genus ''Calandrella'': * Buckley's lark (as ''Calandrella buckleyi'') * Obbia lark (as ''Calandrella obbiensis'') *

Sclater's lark Sclater's lark (''Spizocorys sclateri'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in Namibia and South Africa. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It is threatened by habitat loss. Taxonomy and systemati ...

(as ''Calandrella sclateri'') * Stark's lark (as ''Calandrella starki'') * Masked lark (as ''Calandrella personata'') * Botha's lark (as ''Calandrella fringillaris'') * Pink-billed Lark (as ''Calandrella conirostris'') *

Raso lark The Raso lark (''Alauda razae'') is a small passerine bird with a highly restricted range, being found only on Raso islet in the Cape Verde Islands. This critically endangered member of the family Alaudidae lives in very arid terrain, and is co ...

(as ''Calandrella razae'') * Athi short-toed lark (as ''Calandrella athensis'') * Asian short-toed lark (as ''Calandrella cheleensis'') * Kazakhstan lesser short-toed lark (as ''Calandrella leucophaea'') * Somali short-toed lark (as ''Calandrella somalica'') * Sand lark (as ''Calandrella raytal'')

References

Bird genera Taxa named by Johann Philipp Achilles Leisler Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Alaudidae-stub