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Sentinel lark

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Sentinel lark
Subspecies Corypha athi harterti in Tsavo East, Kenya
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Genus: Corypha
Species:
C. athi
Binomial name
Corypha athi
(Hartert, 1900)

The sentinel lark (Corypha athi) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in Kenya and Tanzania. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark.

Taxonomy

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The sentinel lark was formally described in 1900 by the German orthithologist Ernst Hartert based on a specimen collected on the plains of the Athi River in Kenya. He considered it to be a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark and coined the trinomial name Mirafra africana athi.[1][2] The sentinel lark is now treated as a separate species and placed in the genus Corypha. This placement 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.[3][4][5]

Two subspecies are recognised:[5]

  • C. a. athi (Hartert, EJO, 1900) – central Kenya to northeast Tanzania
  • C. a. harterti (Neumann, 1908) – central south Kenya

References

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  1. ^ Hartert, Ernst (1900). "Another small contribution to African ornithology". Novitates Zoologicae. 7: 25-53 [46].
  2. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 10.
  3. ^ Alström, P.; Mohammadi, Z.; Enbody, E.D.; Irestedt, M.; Engelbrecht, D.; Crochet, P.-A.; Guillaumet, A.; Rancilhac, L.; Tieleman, B.I.; Olsson, U.; Donald, P.F.; Stervander, M. (2023). "Systematics of the avian family Alaudidae using multilocus and genomic data". Avian Research. 14: 100095. doi:10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100095.
  4. ^ Alström, P.; Mohammadi, Z.; Donald, P.F.; Nymark, M.; Enbody, E.D.; Irestedt, M.; Elisha, E.B.; Ndithia, H.K.; Tieleman, B.I.; Engelbrecht, D.; Olsson, U.; Rancilhac, L.; Stervander, M. (2024). "Integrative taxonomy reveals unrecognised species diversity in African Corypha larks (Aves: Alaudidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 200 (4): 1080–1108. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad107.
  5. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Nicators, Bearded Reedling, larks". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 12 September 2024.