Biology:Eremopterix
Eremopterix is the genus of sparrow-larks, songbirds in the family Alaudidae. The sparrow-larks are found from Africa to the Indian subcontinent.
Taxonomy
The genus Eremopterix was introduced in 1836 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup.[1] The name combines the Ancient Greek ερημος/erēmos meaning "desert" with πτερυξ/pterux, πτερυγος/pterugos meaning "bird" or "winged creature".[2] Kaup did not specify a type species but in 1907 the Russian ornithologist Valentin Bianchi designated the type as Fringilla otoleuca Temminck, 1824.[3] This is a junior synonym of Alaudo melanocephala Lichtenstein, 1823, which is considered to be a subspecies of Eremopterix leucotis (Stanley, 1814), the chestnut-backed sparrow-lark.[4][5]
The genus contains the following eight species:[6]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120px | Eremopterix australis | Black-eared sparrow-lark | southern Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa |
| 120px | Eremopterix hova | Madagascar lark | Madagascar. |
| 120px | Eremopterix nigriceps | Black-crowned sparrow-lark | Mauritania through the Middle East to north-western India |
| 120px | Eremopterix leucotis | Chestnut-backed sparrow-lark | Africa south of the Sahara Desert. |
| 120px | Eremopterix griseus | Ashy-crowned sparrow-lark | South Asia |
| 120px | Eremopterix signatus | Chestnut-headed sparrow-lark | eastern and north-eastern Africa |
| 120px | Eremopterix verticalis | Grey-backed sparrow-lark | southern and south-central Africa |
| 120px | Eremopterix leucopareia | Fischer's sparrow-lark | central Kenya to eastern Zambia, Malawi and north-western Mozambique |
Former species
Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Eremopterix:
- Arabian Dunn's lark (as Pyrrhulauda eremodites)
References
- ↑ Kaup, Johann Jakob (1836) (in German). Das Thierreich in seinen Hauptformen systematisch beschrieben. 2. Darmstadt: Verlag von Johann Philipp Diehl. p. 139. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45993195.
- ↑ Jobling, James A.. "Eremopterix". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=Eremopterix.
- ↑ Bianchi, Valentin (1906). "Catalogue of the known species of Alaudidae or family of larks with a table showing the geographical distribution and a key to the genera". Bulletin de l'Académie impériale des sciences de St.-Pétersbourg. Series 5 25: 1-81 [29]. 1907. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29687033.
- ↑ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds (1960). Check-List of Birds of the World. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 29. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480704.
- ↑ Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 437. ISBN 978-0-9568611-2-2. https://www.avespress.com/uploads/downloads/278/file/HM4_2.pdf#page=491.
- ↑ AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/.
Template:Passerida Wikidata ☰ Q304526 entry
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