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African pipit

species of bird

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ995602 ↗
Source-derived summary

The African pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) is a fairly small passerine bird belonging to the pipit genus Anthus in the family Motacillidae. It is also known as the grassveld pipit or grassland pipit. It was formerly lumped together with the Richard's, Australian, mountain and paddyfield pipits in a single species, Richard's pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae), but is now often treated as a species in its own right.

It has some defining characteristics, such as light brown feathers on the head and back, dark brown feathers on the lower back and tail, and a white chest.

Subspecies

Some 15 subspecies are recognized:

A. (c.) camaroonensis Shelley, 1900 – highlands of western Cameroon

A. c. lynesi Bannerman & Bates, 1926 – southeastern Nigeria to southwestern Sudan

A. c. stabilis Clancey, 1986 – locally in Sudan and South Sudan

A. c. cinnamomeus Rüppell, 1840 – locally in Ethiopian highlands

A. c. eximius Clancey, 1986 – southern Arabian peninsula

A. c. annae R.Meinertzhagen, 1921 – coastal Horn of Africa to coastal Tanzania

A. c.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “African pipit” as species of bird. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around African, pipit and species.

Editorial reviewA practical orientation to terminology and classification, particularly when read beside dated observations, specimens or technical literature. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1900, 1926, 1986, 1840—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with African, pipit and species providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “African pipit”, the useful work is to connect “species of bird” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q995602. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1900, 1926, 1986 and 1840.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “African pipit”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow African pipit primary sources, African pipit archive and African research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “African pipit”?
  2. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “African pipit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.