Gray's lark (''Ammomanopsis grayi'') 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 ...

. It is found in south-western Africa in 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 ...

of hot

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Gray's lark was originally described as a species within the genus ''

Alauda ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species a ...

''. It was then placed in the sister genus ''

Ammomanes ''Ammomanes'' is a genus of lark in the family Alaudidae. Taxonomy and systematics Extant species It contains the following three species: Additionally, some authorities continue to place Gray's lark within the genus ''Ammomanes''. Former spe ...

'' until re-classified in 2009 by the IOC into the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus ''Ammomanopsis''. Some authorities still consider the species as ''Ammomanes grayi''. Other names for Gray's lark include Gray's desert lark and Gray's sand lark.

Subspecies

Two

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 recognized: * ''A. g. hoeschi'' - ( Niethammer, 1955): Found in north-western Namibia and south-western Angola * ''A. g. grayi'' - ( Wahlberg, 1855): Found in west-central and south-western Namibia

References

Gray's lark Birds of Southern Africa Gray's lark Gray's lark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Alaudidae-stub