Mirafra africana

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Aves
Subclassis: Carinatae
Infraclassis: Neornithes
Parvclassis: Neognathae
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Parvordo: Passerida
Superfamilia: Passeroidea
Familia: Alaudidae
Genus: Mirafra
Species: Mirafra africana

Name

Mirafra africana Smith, 1836

Vernacular names
English: Rufous-naped Lark

The Rufous-naped Lark (Mirafra africana) is a species of lark in the Alaudidae family.

Range

The Rufous-naped lark's range is very large, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 5,600,000 square km.[1] It is found in the following countries:

Angola
Botswana
Burundi
Cameroon
Congo
Ivory Coast
Gabon
Guinea
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Malawi
Mali
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Habitat

Its natural habitats are dry savanna and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.

The race sharpii is sometimes (e.g., by Sibley and Monroe) regarded as a separate species, named Somali Lark (note however that there is another species, Somali Long-billed Lark M. somalica, which is called Somali Lark by some authorities, e.g. Clements).
Adult M. a. athi
juvenile, Serengeti, Tanzania
BirdLife International (2008). Mirafra africana. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 11 May 2009. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of Least Concern.

References

^ a b Compilers: Stuart Butchart, Jonathan Ekstrom (2008). "Rufous-naped Lark - BirdLife Species Factsheet". Evaluators: Jeremy Bird, Stuart Butchart. BirdLife International . Retrieved May 6, 2009.