Rusty Lark

SCI Name:  Mirafra rufa
Protonym:  Mirafra rufa Bull.Br.Orn.Club 41 p.15
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Alaudidae / Mirafra
Taxonomy Code:  ruslar1
Type Locality:  Juga Juga, 3000 feet, 15 miles ENE of El Fasher, Darfur.
Author:  Lynes
Publish Year:  1920
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MIRAFRA
(Alaudidae; Ϯ Horsfield's Bush Lark M. javanica) Horsfield made great use of Javanese names, but this does not appear to be one of them (cf. Malay name Merfa for a babbler (see Malacopteron)). According to Agassiz 1842-1846, mirafra is from a native tongue. Gotch 1981, writes that the name is from L. mirus wonderful, and Afra African; the first part of this etymology may be correct, but although most forms occur in the Afrotropics Horsfield’s Bush Lark does not; "MIRAFRA ... The characters in which this genus differs from Alauda are a more robust, conical and arched bill, round nares nearly naked, and a proportionally short claw to the posterior toe. The sides of the beak, between the back (culmen) and cutting edges (tomia) are somewhat convex. In this character it has greater affinity to Fringilla than to Alauda, the bill of which is often subulate (as in Sylvia), while the nares are covered.  Mirafra, although it greatly resembles Calandra, differs from it in possessing the spurious remex, and in having the four instead of the three first remiges elongated  ...  Mirafra Javanica ...  Branjangan Javanis." (Horsfield 1821); "Mirafra Horsfield, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13, pt. 1, p. 159. Type, by monotypy, Mirafra javanica Horsfield." (Peters 1960, IX, 3).    
Var. Miraffra, Mirafa, Myrafra.   
Synon. Africorys, Amirafra, Anacorys, Brachonyx, Corypha, Croteoptera, Etoimus, Geocoraphus, Megalophonus, Neomirafra, Plocealauda, Spilocorydon.

mirafra
Genus Mirafra Horsfield, 1821, bush lark (syn. Mirafra javanica).

rufa
L. rufus  red, ruddy. In ornithology rufus, rufa and rufum cover a wide spectrum of colours from yellow, orange and brown to crimson, scarlet and purple.
● "91. TETRAO.  ...  rufus.  8. T. rostro pedibusque sanguineis, gula alba cincta fascia nigra albo-punctata.  Tetrao rectricibus cinereis: superiore medietate hinc inde rufis. Fn. svec. 171.  Perdix rufa s. major. Gesn. av. 682. Aldr. orn. l. 13. c. 18. Jonst. av. 68. t. 27. Will. orn. 118. t. 29. Raj. av. 57. Alb. av. I. p. 29. t. 29.  Habitat in Europa australiori.” (Linnaeus 1758) (Alectoris).
● ex “Anhinga roux” of de Buffon 1770-1783 (Anhinga).
● ex “Ferrugineous Duck” of Pennant 1776 (?syn. Aythya nyroca).
● ex “Pie rousse de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782 (syn. Dendrocitta vagabunda).
● ex “Aigrette rousse de la Louisiane” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 902 (syn. Egretta rufescens).
● ex “Hirondelle à ventre roux de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 724, fig. 1, and “Rufous-bellied Swallow” of Latham 1783 (syn. Hirundo erythrogaster).
● ex “Alouette noire de la Encenada” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 738, fig. 2, and “Alouette noire à dos fauve” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Lessonia).
● ex “Lanius madagascariensis rufus” of Brisson 1760 (Schetba).
● ex “Fauvette rousse” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 581, fig. 1 (?syn. Sylvia communis).
● ex “Kleinste Grasmücke” of Frisch 1733, “Curruca rufa” of Brisson 1760, “Fauvette rousse” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 581, fig. 1, and de Buffon 1770-1786, and “Rufous Warbler” of Latham 1783 (?syn. Sylvia communis).
● ex “Schet Roux” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 147 (syn. Terpsiphone mutata).

SUBSPECIES

Rusty Lark (nigriticola)
SCI Name: Mirafra rufa nigriticola
nigriticola
L. Nigritae  peoples living near the Nigris or Niger River (i.e. French Niger); -cola  dweller  < colere  to inhabit.

Rusty Lark (rufa)
SCI Name: Mirafra rufa rufa
rufa
L. rufus  red, ruddy. In ornithology rufus, rufa and rufum cover a wide spectrum of colours from yellow, orange and brown to crimson, scarlet and purple.
● "91. TETRAO.  ...  rufus.  8. T. rostro pedibusque sanguineis, gula alba cincta fascia nigra albo-punctata.  Tetrao rectricibus cinereis: superiore medietate hinc inde rufis. Fn. svec. 171.  Perdix rufa s. major. Gesn. av. 682. Aldr. orn. l. 13. c. 18. Jonst. av. 68. t. 27. Will. orn. 118. t. 29. Raj. av. 57. Alb. av. I. p. 29. t. 29.  Habitat in Europa australiori.” (Linnaeus 1758) (Alectoris).
● ex “Anhinga roux” of de Buffon 1770-1783 (Anhinga).
● ex “Ferrugineous Duck” of Pennant 1776 (?syn. Aythya nyroca).
● ex “Pie rousse de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782 (syn. Dendrocitta vagabunda).
● ex “Aigrette rousse de la Louisiane” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 902 (syn. Egretta rufescens).
● ex “Hirondelle à ventre roux de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 724, fig. 1, and “Rufous-bellied Swallow” of Latham 1783 (syn. Hirundo erythrogaster).
● ex “Alouette noire de la Encenada” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 738, fig. 2, and “Alouette noire à dos fauve” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Lessonia).
● ex “Lanius madagascariensis rufus” of Brisson 1760 (Schetba).
● ex “Fauvette rousse” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 581, fig. 1 (?syn. Sylvia communis).
● ex “Kleinste Grasmücke” of Frisch 1733, “Curruca rufa” of Brisson 1760, “Fauvette rousse” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 581, fig. 1, and de Buffon 1770-1786, and “Rufous Warbler” of Latham 1783 (?syn. Sylvia communis).
● ex “Schet Roux” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 147 (syn. Terpsiphone mutata).

Rusty Lark (lynesi)
SCI Name: Mirafra rufa lynesi
lynesi
Rear-Adm. Hubert Lynes (1874-1942) Royal Navy, on China Station 1910-1912, ornithologist, collector in tropical Africa (subsp. Anthus cinnamomeus, Apalis, ‡subsp. Ardeotis arabs, subsp. Batis orientalis, subsp. Cisticola brunnescens, syn. Dendrocopos major mauritanus, subsp. Galerida cristata, syn. Hirundo atrocaerulea, subsp. Lybius leucocephalus, subsp. Mirafra rufa, syn. Myrmecocichla tholloni, syn. Parus major excelsus, Sarothrura).