''Mirafra'' is a genus 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 ...

. 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 Australia.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Mirafra'' was introduced in 1821 by the American naturalist

Thomas Horsfield Thomas Horsfield (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American physician and natural history, naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the Eas ...

to accommodate a single species, ''Mirafra javanica'' the singing bush lark, which is therefore considered as 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 ...

. The derivation of the genus name is unknown. A 2023

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 ...

study of the lark family

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 his collaborators found that the genus ''Mirafra'' contained deep internal genetic divergences. They therefore split ''Mirafra'' into four genera, each corresponding to a major clade. Species were moved to '' Plocealauda'', '' Amirafra'' and '' Corypha'' leaving only seven species remaining in ''Mirafra''.

Extant species

The genus contains seven species:

Former species

Some authorities, either presently or formerly, recognize several additional species as belonging to the genus ''Mirafra'', including: * Short-clawed lark (as ''Mirafra chuana'') * Dusky lark (as ''Mirafra nigricans'') * Rufous-rumped lark (as ''Mirafra erythropygia'' or ''Mirafra nigricans erythropygia'') * Indian desert finch-lark (as ''Mirafra phoenicuroides'') * Rufous-tailed lark (as ''Mirafra phoenicura'') * Madagascan lark (as ''Mirafra hova'') * Sabota lark (as ''Mirafra sabota'') * Bradfield's lark (as ''Mirafra naevia'') * Pink-breasted lark (as ''Mirafra poecilosterna'') * Foxy lark (as ''Mirafra alopex'') * Masai fawn-coloured lark (as ''Mirafra intercedens'') * Fawn-coloured lark (as ''Mirafra africanoides'') * Karoo lark (as ''Mirafra albescens'' or ''Mirafra nivosa'') * Red lark (as ''Mirafra burra'') * Dune lark (as ''Mirafra erythrochlamys'') * Barlow's lark (as ''Mirafra erythrochlamys barlowi'') * Rudd's lark (as ''Mirafra ruddi'') * Archer's lark (as ''Mirafra archeri'') * Sidamo lark (as ''Mirafra sidamoensis'') * Ngaundere sun lark (as ''Mirafra strümpelli'') * Uele sun lark (as ''Mirafra bucolica'')

References

Alaudidae Bird genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Alaudidae-stub