Sentinel lark

Sentinel lark
Subspecies Corypha athi harterti in Tsavo East, Kenya
Conservation status
Not evaluated  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Alaudidae
Genus:	Corypha
Species:	C. athi
Binomial name
Corypha athi (Hartert, 1900)

The sentinel lark (Corypha athi) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in Kenya and Tanzania. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark.

Taxonomy

The sentinel lark was formally described in 1900 by the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert based on a specimen collected on the plains of the Athi River in Kenya. He considered it to be a subspecies of the rufous-naped lark and coined the trinomial name Mirafra africana athi. ^{[1] [2]} The sentinel lark is now treated as a separate species and placed in the genus Corypha . This placement is based on the results of two molecular phylogenetic studies by a team of ornithologists led by Per Alström that were published in 2023 and 2024. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Two subspecies are recognised: ^[5]

• C. a. athi (Hartert, EJO, 1900) – central Kenya to northeast Tanzania
• C. a. harterti (Neumann, 1908) – central south Kenya

References

1. Hartert, Ernst (1900). "Another small contribution to African ornithology". Novitates Zoologicae. 7: 25-53 [46].
2. Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 10.
3. Alström, P.; Mohammadi, Z.; Enbody, E.D.; Irestedt, M.; Engelbrecht, D.; Crochet, P.-A.; Guillaumet, A.; Rancilhac, L.; Tieleman, B.I.; Olsson, U.; Donald, P.F.; Stervander, M. (2023). "Systematics of the avian family Alaudidae using multilocus and genomic data". Avian Research. 14: 100095. doi: 10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100095 .
4. Alström, P.; Mohammadi, Z.; Donald, P.F.; Nymark, M.; Enbody, E.D.; Irestedt, M.; Elisha, E.B.; Ndithia, H.K.; Tieleman, B.I.; Engelbrecht, D.; Olsson, U.; Rancilhac, L.; Stervander, M. (2024). "Integrative taxonomy reveals unrecognised species diversity in African Corypha larks (Aves: Alaudidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 200 (4): 1080–1108. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad107.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Nicators, Bearded Reedling, larks". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 12 September 2024.