Somali short-toed lark
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Somali short-toed lark (Alaudala somalica) is a small passerine bird of the lark family found in eastern and north-eastern Africa.
| Somali short-toed lark | |
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| An 1897 illustration of the Somali short-toed lark | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Alaudidae |
| Genus: | Alaudala |
| Species: | A. somalica |
| Binomial name | |
| Alaudala somalica Sharpe, 1895 | |
| Synonyms | |
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The habitat of the Somali short-toed lark is subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.
Taxonomy
The Somali short-toed lark was formally described in 1895 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe based on a specimen collected on the Haud plateau of Somalia by the American explorer Arthur Donaldson Smith. Sharpe coined the binomial name Alaudala somalica.[3] The Somali short-toed lark was formerly sometimes treated as a subspecies of the Mediterranean short-toed lark (Alaudala rufescens).[4] The Athi short-toed lark was formerly treated as a subspecies.
Four subspecies are recognised:[5]
- A. s. perconfusa (White, CMN, 1960) – northwest Somalia
- A. s. somalica Sharpe, 1895 – east Ethiopia and north Somalia
- A. s. megaensis (Benson, 1946) – south Ethiopia to central Kenya
- A. s. athensis Sharpe, 1900 - southern Kenya and northern Tanzania
