Stark's lark (''Spizocorys starki'') is a species of

lark Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occu ...

in the family

Alaudidae Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occu ...

. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are dry

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

and

subtropical or tropical dry shrubland Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...

. Captain George Shelley named the species in honour of

Arthur Stark __NOTOC__ Arthur Cowell Stark (27 November 1846 – 18 November 1899) was an English medical doctor and naturalist. He emigrated from Torquay, England to Cape Town, South Africa in 1892. He lived in (the British colonies of) South Africa du ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Stark's lark was originally classified in the genus ''

Calandrella ''Calandrella'' is a genus of larks in the family Alaudidae. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Calandrella'' was established by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829 with the greater short-toed lark as the type species. The genus n ...

'' and was then moved from the genus ''

Eremalauda ''Eremalauda'' is a genus of larks in the family Alaudidae. It contains the following species: * Dunn's lark Dunn's lark (''Eremalauda dunni'') is a small passerine bird of the lark family. It is a desert bird which is found across parts of ...

'' to ''Spizocorys'' in 2009. This species is alternately named as Stark's short-toed lark.

References

External links

Species text
- ''The Atlas of Southern African Birds''

Stark's lark Stark's lark (''Spizocorys starki'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Its natural habitats are dry savannah and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. Captain George Shelle ...

Birds of Southern Africa

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Alaudidae-stub