The Somali lark (''Corypha somalica'') 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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Somalia. Ash's lark is now considered to be 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 ...

Taxonomy

The Somali lark was formally described in 1903 by the British ornithologist

Harry Witherby Harry Forbes Witherby, MBE, FZS, MBOU (7 October 1873 – 11 December 1943) was a noted British ornithologist, author, publisher and founding editor (in 1907) of the magazine ''British Birds''. Personal life Harry was the second surviving ...

under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Certhilauda somalica''. The species 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 several species that were moved to the resurrected 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 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. The term "Somali lark" is also used as an alternate name for both Archer's lark and the

russet lark The russet lark (''Corypha sharpii''), also known as Sharpe's lark, is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in Somalia. Taxonomy The russet lark was formerly placed in the genus ''Mirafra''. It is one of several species that were move ...

. The term "red Somali lark" is also used as an alternate name for the russet lark. Other alternate names include "red Somali lark", "Somali bushlark" and "Somali long-billed lark".

Subspecies

Two

are recognized: * ''C. s. somalica'' ( Witherby, 1903) – north Somalia (includes ''rochei'' as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

) * ''C. s. ashi'' ( Colston, 1982) – central Somalia The subspecies ''C. s. ashi'' was formerly treated as a separate species, Ash's lark. It is now considered to be a subspecies of the Somali lark based on molecular genetic and behavioral evidence, as well as a shared type locality. It was originally described by the ornithologist Peter Colston in 1982 under the binomial name ''Mirafra ashi''. Colston chose the specific epithet to honour the ornithologist John Ash who had collected the specimen.

Distribution and habitat

The

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

of ''M. somalica'' is somewhat large, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 270,000 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 ...

is 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

Somali lark Endemic birds of Somalia Somali lark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Alaudidae-stub