Plains lark
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The plains lark (Corypha kabalii) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and northwest Zambia. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark.
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| Plains lark | |
|---|---|
| |
| Subspecies (Corypha kabalii irwini) in south-central Angola | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Alaudidae |
| Genus: | Corypha |
| Species: | C. kabalii |
| Binomial name | |
| Corypha kabalii (White, CMN, 1943) | |
Taxonomy
The plains lark was formally described in 1943 by the English ornithologist Charles M.N. White based on a specimen collected near Balovale (now the town of Zambezi) in northwest Zambia near the border with Angola. He considered it to be a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark and coined the trinomial name Mirafra africana kabalii.[1][2] He chose the specific epithet to honour a local collector and hunter Kabali Muzeya.[3] The plains lark is now treated as a separate species and placed in the genus Corypha. This is based on the results of two molecular phylogenetic studies by a team of ornithologists led by Per Alström that were published in 2023 and 2024.[4][5][6]
Three subspecies are recognised:[6]
- C. k. malbranti (Chapin, 1946) – Gabon to south DR Congo
- C. k. kabalii (White, CMN, 1943) – northeast Angola and northwest Zambia
- C. k. irwini (da Rosa Pinto, 1968) – southeast Angola (previously synonymized with C. africana pallida)
