Red-winged lark
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The red-winged lark (Corypha hypermetra) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in eastern Africa. It was formerly treated as conspecific with the Kidepo lark.
| Red-winged lark | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Alaudidae |
| Genus: | Corypha |
| Species: | C. hypermetra |
| Binomial name | |
| Corypha hypermetra (Reichenow, 1879) | |
| Subspecies | |
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See text | |
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| resident range | |
| Synonyms | |
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Taxonomy and systematics
The red-winged lark was formerly placed in the genus Mirafra. It is one of several species that were moved to the resurrected genus Corypha based on the results of a large molecular genetic study by the Swedish ornithologist Per Alström and collaborators that was published in 2023.[2][3]
The red-winged lark is taken to form a species complex with the allopatric[4] rufous-naped lark, and perhaps with the Somali lark. The name "red-winged lark" is sometimes used as an alternate name for the Indian bush lark. The alternate names red-winged bush lark and rufous-winged bush lark may also be used to describe the Indian bush lark or the Bengal bush lark respectively.[5][6]
Subspecies
Two subspecies are recognized:[2]
- C. h. gallarum (Hartert, EJO, 1907) – Ethiopia
- C. h. hypermetra (Reichenow, 1879) – south Somalia to northeast Tanzania
This species and the Kidepo lark (Corypha kidepoensis) were formerly treated as conspecific. The Kidepo lark was elevated to species status based on results of a comprehensive integrated study of the genus Corypha that was published in 2024.[2][7]
Description
It is a larger version of the rufous-naped lark, with a more robust bill and longer tail,[8] but their morphological and vocal features do not intergrade where they occur together.[9]
Distribution and habitat
It has a patchy but quite extensive range in equatorial eastern Africa. It occurs within Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, and its estimated global extent of occurrence is 660,000 km2.[1] Its total population has yet to be quantified, but is believed to be large.[1]
Its natural habitat is savanna[8] in tropical to subtropical dry, open, lowland.
