Short-tailed lark

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Short-tailed lark
P. f. delamerei in Serengeti N.P.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
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Genus:
Species:
S. fremantlii
Binomial name
Spizocorys fremantlii
Subspecies

see text

resident range
Synonyms
  • Calendula fremantlii
  • Galerida fremantlii
  • Pseudalaemon fremantlii
  • Short tailed lark

The short-tailed lark (Spizocorys fremantlii) is a species of lark in the Alaudidae family.

It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are dry savannah, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.[1]

Illustrated by Keulemans

Taxonomy and systematics

The short-tailed lark was originally placed in the genus Calendula (which was subsequently renamed to Galerida) and then to the monotypic genus Pseudalaemon before it was re-classified to Spizocorys in 2014.[2][3]

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized:[4]

  • Somali short-tailed lark (S. f. fremantlii) - (Lort Phillips, 1897): Found in south-eastern Ethiopia and Somalia
  • S. f. megaensis - (Benson, 1946): Found in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya
  • Kenya short-tailed lark (S. f. delamerei) - (Sharpe, 1900): Found in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania

Behaviour and ecology

Food and feeding

The diet of the short-tailed lark is comprised mostly of vegetable material.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Template:IUCN
  2. ^ "Spizocorys fremantlii - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  3. ^ "Taxonomy 4.1 to 4.4 « IOC World Bird List". www.worldbirdnames.org. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  4. ^ "IOC World Bird List 6.4". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4.
  5. ^ Donald, Paul (2010-06-30). The Skylark. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781408133347.
  6. ^ "ITIS Report: Pseudalaemon". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 8 August 2014.