The flappet lark (''Amirafra rufocinnamomea'') is a species of

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 ...

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 ...

that is widespread across

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

. The name flappet originates from the distinctive wing flapping sound made during its breeding season.

Taxonomy and systematics

The flappet lark and the Cape clapper lark are regarded as forming a superspecies with the Eastern clapper lark. The alternate name "cinnamon bush lark" is also an alternate name for the singing bush lark. The flappet lark was formerly placed in the genus ''

Mirafra ''Mirafra'' is a genus of lark in the family Alaudidae. Some ''Mirafra'' species are called "larks", while others are called "bush larks". They are all found in Africa except for the singing bush lark that is found through South Asia to Australi ...

''. It is one of three species that were moved to the resurrected genus ''

Amirafra ''Amirafra'' is a genus of larks in the family Alaudidae. It contains three species that were formerly placed in the genus ''Mirafra''. These larks are found in sub-Sahara Africa. Taxonomy A 2023 molecular phylogenetic study of the lark family A ...

'' based on the results of a large molecular genetic study by the Swedish ornithologist

Per Alström ''Per'' Johan Alström (born 9 April 1961) is a Swedish Professor of ornithology. He does research in Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, systematics, and evolution, with birds in Asia as a specialty. Alström works at the Department of Ecology and Genet ...

and collaborators that was published in 2023.

Subspecies

Fifteen

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''A. r. buckleyi'' ( Shelley, 1873) – south Mauritania and Senegal to north Cameroon * ''A. r. serlei'' (White, CMN, 1960) – southeast Nigeria * ''A. r. tigrina'' ( Oustalet, 1892) – east Cameroon to north DR Congo * ''A. r. furensis'' ( Lynes, 1923) – central west Sudan * ''A. r. sobatensis'' (Lynes, 1914) – central Sudan * ''A. r. rufocinnamomea'' ( Salvadori, 1866) – northwest, central Ethiopia * ''A. r. omoensis'' (

Neumann Neumann () is a German language, German surname, with its origins in the pre-7th-century (Old English) word ''wikt:neowe, neowe'' meaning "new", with ''wikt:mann, mann'', meaning man. The English form of the name is Newman. Von Neumann is a varian ...

, 1928) – southwest Ethiopia * ''A. r. torrida'' (Shelley, 1882) – southeast Sudan and south Ethiopia to north Uganda, central Kenya and central Tanzania * ''A. r. kawirondensis'' ( Van Someren, 1921) – east DR Congo, west Uganda and west Kenya * ''A. r. fischeri'' (

Reichenow Anton Reichenow (1 August 1847 in Charlottenburg – 6 July 1941 in Hamburg) was a German ornithologist and herpetologist. Reichenow was the son-in-law of Jean Cabanis, and worked at the Natural History Museum of Berlin from 1874 to 1921. He was ...

, 1878) – Angola, south DR Congo, north Zambia and north Mozambique north through east Tanzania, east Kenya to south Somalia * ''A. r. schoutedeni'' (White, CMN, 1956) – Gabon and Central African Republic to west DR Congo and northwest Angola * ''A. r. lwenarum'' (White, CMN, 1945) – northwest Zambia * ''A. r. smithersi'' (White, CMN, 1956) – north Zambia, Zimbabwe, northeast Botswana and north South Africa * ''A. r. pintoi'' (White, CMN, 1956) – south Mozambique, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and northeast South Africa * ''A. r. mababiensis'' ( Roberts, 1932) – west Zambia to central Botswana

Distribution and habitat

The flappet lark has a large range covering much of the African continent with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km². Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are dry

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, moist savannah, and subtropical or tropical dry lowland

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

References

External links

Species factsheet
- BirdLife International
Species text
- ''The Atlas of Southern African Birds'' flappet lark Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa flapper lark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Alaudidae-stub