Eremopterix is the genus of sparrow-larks, songbirds in the family Alaudidae. The sparrow-larks are found from Africa to the Indian subcontinent.
Taxonomy The genus Eremopterix was introduced in 1836 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup. The name combines the Ancient Greek ερημος/erēmos meaning "desert" with πτερυξ/pterux, πτερυγος/pterugos meaning "bird" or "winged creature". Kaup did not specify a type species but in 1907 the Russian ornithologist Valentin Bianchi designated the type as Fringilla otoleuca Temminck, 1824. This is a junior synonym of Alaudo melanocephala Lichtenstein, 1823, which is considered to be a subspecies of Eremopterix leucotis (Stanley, 1814), the chestnut-backed sparrow-lark.
The genus contains the following eight species:
Image Scientific name Common name Distribution Eremopterix australis Black-eared sparrow-lark southern Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa Eremopterix hova Madagascar lark Madagascar. Eremopterix nigriceps Black-crowned sparrow-lark Mauritania through the Middle East to north-western India Eremopterix leucotis Chestnut-backed sparrow-lark Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Eremopterix griseus Ashy-crowned sparrow-lark South Asia Eremopterix signatus Chestnut-headed sparrow-lark eastern and north-eastern Africa Eremopterix verticalis Grey-backed sparrow-lark southern and south-central Africa Eremopterix leucopareia Fischer's sparrow-lark central Kenya to eastern Zambia, Malawi and north-western Mozambique
Former species Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Eremopterix: Arabian Dunn's lark (as Pyrrhulauda eremodites)
References