Melanocorypha calandra

Melanocorypha calandra (*)

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Cladus: Telluraves
Cladus: Australaves
Ordo: Passeriformes
Subordo: Passeri
Infraordo: Passerida
Superfamilia: Passeroidea

Familia: Alaudidae
Genus: Melanocorypha
Species: Melanocorypha calandra
Name

Melanocorypha calandra (Linnaeus, 1766)
Vernacular names
aragonés: Calandra común
Deutsch: Kalanderlerche
English: Calandra Lark
galego: Calandra real
magyar: Kalandrapacsirta
հայերեն: Արտույտ տափաստանային
polski: Kalandra szara
português: Calhandra-real
Türkçe: Boğmaklı toygar

The calandra lark (Melanocorypha calandra) or European calandra-lark breeds in warm temperate countries around the Mediterranean and eastwards through Turkey into northern Iran and southern Russia. It is replaced further east by its relative, the bimaculated lark.
Taxonomy and systematics

The calandra lark was originally placed in the genus Alauda.[2] The current genus name, Melanocorypha is from Ancient Greek melas, "black", and koruphos a term used by ancient writers for a now unknown bird, but here confused with korudos, "lark". "Calandra"' derives ultimately from kalandros the Ancient Greek name for this bird.[3][4] The bimaculated lark is also sometimes termed as the calandra lark.[5]
Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized:[6]

Western calandra lark (M. c. calandra) - (Linnaeus, 1766): Found in southern Europe and north-western Africa to Turkey (except south-central and south-eastern Turkey), Transcaucasia and north-western Iran
Eastern calandra lark (M. c. psammochroa) - Hartert, 1904: Found from northern Iraq and northern Iran to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan
M. c. gaza - Meinertzhagen, R, 1919: Originally described as a subspecies of the bimaculated lark. Found from eastern Syria and south-eastern Turkey to south-western Iran
Levant calandra lark (M. c. hebraica) - Meinertzhagen, R, 1920: Found from south-central Turkey and north-western Syria to Israel and western Jordan

Description

This is a large, robust lark, 17.5–20 cm long. It is an undistinguished-looking species on the ground, mainly streaked greyish brown above and white below, and with large black patches on the breast sides. It has a white supercilium.

In flight it shows short broad wings, which are dark below, and a short white-edged tail. The wing and tail patterns are distinctions from its more easterly relatives.

The song is like a slower version of that of the skylark.
Distribution and habitat

It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but Russian populations of this passerine bird are more migratory, moving further south in winter, as far as the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

This is a bird of open cultivation and steppe. Its nest is on the ground, with 4–5 eggs being laid. Food is seeds supplemented with insects in the breeding season. It is gregarious outside the breeding season.
Behaviour and ecology

This species occupies open plains, from steppes and pastures to extensive dry cereal cultivations and true steppe with dense grass cover. In the Mediterranean Basin it is mainly found in dry pastures and dry cultivations. In cultivated areas, it prefers fallows, long-fallows and field edges and to a lesser extent sown fields, selecting unirrigated legumes and barley fields. The species is monogamous and lays eggs from early April to July. The nest is made from grass stems and small leaves, lined with softer material and built in a shallow depression on the ground, often under a tussock. Clutches are usually three to six eggs (de Juana and Suárez 2004). Its diet is seasonal, feeding mostly on insects in the summers and seeds and grass shoots in the winter. Mediterranean populations are resident, forming large flocks in the autumn and winter (Snow and Perrins 1998, de Juana and Suárez 2004). Eastern populations are migratory or partially migratory (de Juana and Suárez 2004).[1]

Parasites of the calandra lark include the chewing louse Ricinus vaderi, described from specimens collected in Azerbaijan.[7]
In culture

The song is considered so musical to human ears that the calandra lark was formerly a popular cagebird in its range.[8] It is mentioned in, for instance, the Tuscan proverb "Canta come una calandra", he or she sings like a lark,[9] and the Spanish ballad "Romance del prisionero", where its song is the only way the prisoner knows when day breaks.[10]
References

BirdLife International (2016). "Melanocorypha calandra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22717285A87485192. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22717285A87485192.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
"Melanocorypha calandra - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 84, 247. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
"Calandra". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
"Melanocorypha bimaculata - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
"IOC World Bird List 6.4". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4.
Valan, Miroslav; Sychra, Oldrich; Literak, Ivan (2016). "Chewing lice of genus Ricinus (Phthiraptera, Ricinidae) deposited at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia, with description of a new species". Parasite. 23: 7. doi:10.1051/parasite/2016007. ISSN 1776-1042. PMC 4763114. PMID 26902646. Open access icon
Kikkawa, Jiro (2003). "Larks". In Perrins, Christopher (ed.). Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds. Firefly Books. pp. 578–583. ISBN 1-55297-777-3.
Giusti, Giuseppe (1853). Raccolta di proverbi toscani. F. Monnier. pp. 364. Retrieved 2008-06-21. "canta una calandra."
Stanley, ed. (2004). Spanish Traditional Ballads/Romances Viejos Españoles. Translated by Applebaum. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 214–215. ISBN 0-486-42694-7. Retrieved 2008-06-21.