''Alauda'' 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 ...

of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark)

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are known from the fossil record. The current genus name is from Latin ''alauda'', "lark".

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

thought the word was originally of Celtic origin.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus ''Alauda'' was introduced by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

''. 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 ...

was subsequently designated as the Eurasian skylark. The genus ''Alauda'' has four extant and at least two extinct species. Formerly, many other species have also been considered to belong to the genus.

Extant species

The genus contains four species:

Extinct species

* †''Alauda xerarvensis'' (late Pliocene of Varshets, Bulgaria) * †''Alauda tivadari'' (late Miocene of Polgardi, Hungary)

Former species

Previously, some authorities also classified the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Alauda'': * Greater hoopoe-lark (desertorum) (as ''Alauda desertorum'') * Gray's lark (as ''Alauda grayi'') * Short-clawed lark (as ''Alauda chuana'') * Cape long-billed lark (as ''Alauda curvirostris'') * Dusky lark (as ''Alauda nigricans'') * Rufous-rumped lark (as ''Alauda erythropygia'') * Desert lark (as ''Alauda deserti'') * Middle East desert lark (as ''Alauda isabellina'') * Bar-tailed lark (arenicolor) (as ''Alauda arenicolor'') * Senegal chestnut-backed finch-lark (as ''Alauda melanocephala'') * Ashy-crowned sparrow-lark (as ''Alauda grisea'') * Congo Sabota lark (as ''Alauda plebeja'') * Bradfield's lark (as ''Alauda naevia'') * Pink-breasted lark (as ''Alauda poecilosterna'') * Karoo lark (as ''Alauda albescens'') * Karoo lark (codea) (as ''Alauda codea'') * Karoo lark (guttata) (as ''Alauda guttata'') * Dune lark (as ''Alauda erythrochlamys'') * Eastern clapper lark (as ''Alauda fasciolata'') * Cape clapper lark (as ''Alauda apiata'') * Woodlark (as ''Alauda arborea'') * Botha's lark (as ''Alauda fringillaris'') * Pink-billed lark (as ''Alauda conirostris'') * Sykes's lark (as ''Alauda Deva'') * Large-billed lark (as ''A. magnirostris'') * Crested lark (as ''Alauda cristata'') * Senegal crested lark (as ''Alauda senegallensis'') * Crested lark (leautungensis) (as ''Alauda leautungensis'') * Indian crested lark (as ''Alauda Chendoola'') * Malabar lark (as ''Alauda malabarica'') * Horned lark (as ''Alauda alpestris'') * Mexican horned lark (as ''Alauda chrysolaema'') * Shore lark (as ''Alauda flava'') * Southern horned lark (as ''Alauda Penicillata'') * Temminck's lark (as ''Alauda bilopha'') * Mongolian short-toed lark (as ''Alauda Dukhunensis'') * Red-capped lark (as ''Alauda cinerea'') * Red-capped lark (spleniata) (as ''Alauda spleniata'') * Greater short-toed lark (as ''Alauda brachydactila'') * Steppe greater short-toed lark (as ''Alauda longipennis'') * Bimaculated lark (as ''Alauda bimaculata'') * Calandra lark (as ''Alauda calandra'') * Black lark (as ''Alauda yeltoniensis'') * Mongolian lark (as ''Alauda mongolica'') * Dupont's lark (as ''Alauda Duponti'') * Mediterranean short-toed lark (as ''Alauda rufescens'') * Sand lark (as ''Alauda raytal'')

References

External links

{{Authority control Bird genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus