Mediterranean short-toed lark

Mediterranean short-toed lark
On Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Genus: Alaudala
Species:
A. rufescens
Binomial name
Alaudala rufescens
(Vieillot, 1819)
Range includes that of A. heinei
Synonyms
  • Alauda rufescens
  • Calandrella pispoletta
  • Calandrella rufescens
Eggs of Alaudala rufescens minor MHNT

The Mediterranean short-toed lark (Alaudala rufescens) is a small passerine bird found in and around the Mediterranean Basin. It is a common bird with a very wide range from Canary Islands north to the Iberian Peninsula and east throughout North Africa to parts of the Middle East. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".[1]

Its range was also previously thought to include parts of Central Asia, and with the Mediterranean and Central Asian clades combined the species was referred to as the lesser short-toed lark. However, a 2020 study split these two populations into distinct species, with A. rufescens being the Mediterranean clade and A. heinei being the Central Asian clade. Confusingly, Hume's short-toed lark is also sometimes called the lesser short-toed lark.[2]

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2019). "Alaudala rufescens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T104007058A155453361. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T104007058A155453361.en. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  2. ^ Alström, Per; Van Linschooten, Jip; Donald, Paul F.; Sundev, Gombobaatar; Mohammadi, Zeinolabedin; Ghorbani, Fatemeh; Shafaeipour, Arya; Van Den Berg, Arnoud; Robb, Magnus; Aliabadian, Mansour; Wei, Chentao; Lei, Fumin; Oxelman, Bengt; Olsson, Urban (2021-01-01). "Multiple species delimitation approaches applied to the avian lark genus Alaudala". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 154: 106994. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106994. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 33250446.