Mediterranean short-toed lark
species of bird
The Mediterranean short-toed lark (Alaudala rufescens) is a small passerine bird found in and around the Mediterranean Basin. It is a common bird with a very wide range from Canary Islands north to the Iberian Peninsula and east throughout North Africa to parts of the Middle East. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Its range was also previously thought to include parts of Central Asia, and with the Mediterranean and Central Asian clades combined the species was referred to as the lesser short-toed lark. However, a 2020 study split these two populations into distinct species, with A. rufescens being the Mediterranean clade and A. heinei being the Central Asian clade. Confusingly, Hume's short-toed lark is also sometimes called the lesser short-toed lark.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Mediterranean short-toed lark was originally described as belonging to the genus Alauda. The genus name Alaudala is a diminutive of Alauda, and the specific rufescens is Latin for "reddish", from rufus "red". Alternate names for the lesser short-toed lark include the common short-toed lark, grey lark, rufous short-toed lark and short-toed lark. Formerly or presently, some authorities considered the Athi short-toed lark, Asian short-toed lark and/or the Somali short-toed lark to be subspecies of the lesser short-toed lark.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 28, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q27075424. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2020.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mediterranean short-toed lark” 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.