Chihuahuan meadowlark
Subspecies of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chihuahuan meadowlark (Sturnella lilianae), also known as Lilian's meadowlark, is a bird in the family Icteridae. It is found in northern Mexico and the southwestern portion of the United States. It was formerly usually treated as a subspecies of the eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna).
_(4412444000).jpg)
| Chihuahuan meadowlark | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Icteridae |
| Genus: | Sturnella |
| Species: | S. lilianae |
| Binomial name | |
| Sturnella lilianae Oberholser, 1930 | |
 | |
Taxonomy
The Chihuahuan meadowlark was formally described in 1930 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser as a subspecies of the eastern meadowlark based on a holotype that had been collected in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona. Oberholser proposed the trinomial name Sturnella magna lilianae.[1] The epithet lilianae was chosen to honor Lilian Hanna Baldwin (wife of ornithologist Samuel Prentiss Baldwin), as she had presented the Cleveland Museum of Natural History with the collection of birds that included the type of the new subspecies.[1][2] It is now treated as a separate species based on the significant morphological, vocal and genomic differences between the Chihuahuan meadowlark and the other subspecies of the eastern meadowlark.[3][4][5]
Two subspecies are recognized:[5]
- Sturnella lilianae lilianae Oberholser, 1930 – southwest USA and northwest Mexico (Chihuahuan Desert)
- Sturnella lilianae auropectoralis Saunders, GB, 1934 – west-central Mexico[6]
