Meadowlarks are

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

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 ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s belonging to genera '' Sturnella'' and '' Leistes''. This group includes seven species of largely

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

grassland birds. In all species the male at least has a black or brown back and extensively red or yellow underparts.

List of species

There is disagreement among authorities as to whether Lilian's meadowlark should be ranked as a full species or a subspecies.

Red-breasted species, predominantly South American * Red-breasted meadowlark (formerly red-breasted blackbird), ''Leistes militaris'' * White-browed meadowlark (formerly white-browed blackbird), ''Leistes superciliaris'' * Peruvian meadowlark, ''Leistes bellicosus'' * Pampas meadowlark, ''Leistes defilippii'' * Long-tailed meadowlark, ''Leistes loyca'' Sturnella magna -Mexico-8

Yellow-breasted species, predominantly North American * Eastern meadowlark, ''Sturnella magna'' * Chihuahuan meadowlark, ''Sturnella lilianae'' *

Western meadowlark The western meadowlark (''Sturnella neglecta'') is a medium-sized icterid bird, about in length. It is found across western and central North America and is a Bird migration, full migrant, breeding in Canada and the United States with resident ...

, ''Sturnella neglecta''

Taxonomy

As a group, the meadowlarks have had a volatile taxonomic history. When

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 ...

described the eastern meadowlark (the first of the meadowlarks to be scientifically described) in his 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' in 1758, he thought it was related to the

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

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, and so put it in the genus '' Alauda'' with them. In the same work, he put the red-breasted meadowlark in the bunting genus ''

Emberiza The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus ''Emberiza'', the only genus in the Family (biology), family Emberizidae. The family contains 44 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills. Taxonomy Th ...

''. Less than a decade later, he described the eastern meadowlark again, this time putting it into the

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, know ...

genus ''

Sturnus ''Sturnus'' is a genus of starlings. As discussed below, the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of this group is complex, and other authorities differ considerably in which species they place in this genus, and in the species boundaries within ''Stur ...

'', which

Juan Ignacio Molina Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina (; (June 24, 1740 – September 12, 1829) was a Chilean-Spanish Jesuit priest, natural history, naturalist, historian, translator, geographer, botanist, ornithologist, and linguist. He is usually referred to as Abate Moli ...

also used when he first described the long-tailed meadowlark in 1782. In 1816,

Louis Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected ...

created the genus ''Sturnella'', moving the meadowlarks into his new taxon. Most

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

s accepted the new genus, and the western meadowlark, Peruvian meadowlark and Lilian's meadowlark were all placed in this taxon when they were later described. When

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal ...

described the white-browed meadowlark and pampas meadowlark, however, he assigned them to another newly created genus — ''Trupialis'', for what he called "ground-starlings"; he moved the red-breasted meadowlark into that now-defunct genus as well. By the early 20th century, the meadowlarks were split again. Only the "yellow-breasted" meadowlarks (eastern and western meadowlarks, including Lilian's) remained in the genus ''Sturnella''. The red-breasted and white-browed meadowlarks were moved to the genus ''Leistes'', while the pampas meadowlark, Peruvian meadowlark and long-tailed meadowlark made up the genus ''Pezites'', which was established by Cabanis in 1851. By the late 20th century, all meadowlarks were lumped again in the genus ''Sturnella.'' In 2017, all the red-breasted species were moved to the genus ''Leistes''.

References

Sources

* * ''New World Blackbirds'' by Jaramillo and Burke,

External links

Sturnella videos, photos and sounds
on the Internet Bird Collection * * Bird common names

List of species

Taxonomy

References

Sources

Further reading

External links