The highland lark (''Corypha kurrae'') is a species of small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird in the

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 ...

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 ...

found in Africa from Guinea to west Sudan. It was formerly treated as a

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 ...

of the

rufous-naped lark The rufous-naped lark (''Corypha africana'') or rufous-naped bush lark is a widespread and conspicuous species of Alaudidae, lark in the lightly wooded grasslands, open savannas and farmlands of the Afrotropical realm, Afrotropics. Males attract ...

(''Corypha africana'').

Taxonomy

The highland lark was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1923 by the British Admiral

Hubert Lynes Rear Admiral Hubert Lynes, (27 November 1874 – 10 November 1942) was a British admiral whose First World War service was notable for his direction of the Zeebrugge and Ostend raids designed to neutralise the German-held port of Bruges, which ...

based on a specimen collected near Kurra in the

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

region of southwest Sudan. He considered it to be a

of the

and coined the

trinomial name In biology, trinomial nomenclature is the system of names for taxa below the rank of species. These names have three parts. The usage is different in zoology and botany. In zoology In zoological nomenclature, a trinomen (), trinominal name, or t ...

''Mirafra africana kurrae''. The highland lark is now treated as a separate species and placed in the genus ''

Corypha ''Corypha'' or the gebang palm, buri palm or talipot palm is a genus of palms (family Arecaceae), native to India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea and northeastern Australia (Cape York Peninsula, Queensland). They are fan pa ...

'' based on the results of two

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies by a team of ornithologists led by

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 ...

that were published in 2023 and 2024. Five subspecies are recognised: * ''C. k. henrici'' ( Bates, GL, 1930) – Guinea to southwest Ivory Coast * ''C. k. batesi'' ( Bannerman, 1923) – central Nigeria to southeast Niger and west Chad * ''C. k. stresemanni'' (Bannerman, 1923) – central north Cameroon * ''C. k. bamendae'' (

Serle Serle (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy. It is bordered by the neighboring communes of Nuvolento, Caino and Botticino. History Framed by the mountains of Valle Sabbia, the municipality of Serle is lo ...

, 1959) – west Cameroon * ''C. k. kurrae'' ( Lynes, 1923) – west Sudan

References

Corypha (bird) Birds described in 1923 {{Alaudidae-stub