{{Short description|Genus of birds}} {{Redirect|Skylark}} {{For-multi|the asteroid (702) Alauda|702 Alauda|the Roman Legion|Legio V Alaudae}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Alauda arvensis 2.jpg | image_caption = Eurasian skylark (''Alauda arvensis'') [[File:Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) (W1CDR0001421 BD2).ogg|thumb|center|Song of Eurasian skylark ]] | taxon = Alauda | authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | type_species = ''Alauda arvensis'' | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = see text }}
'''''Alauda''''' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, with one species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands.<ref name=ioc/> At least two additional species are known from the fossil record. The genus name is from Latin ''alauda'', "lark". Pliny the Elder thought the word was originally of Celtic origin.<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n37 37]}}</ref>
==Taxonomy and systematics== The genus ''Alauda'' was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''.<ref name=Linnaeus>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1| edition=10th | page=165 | publisher=Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii | language=la | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727072 }}</ref> The type species was subsequently designated as the Eurasian skylark.<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1960 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=9 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=65 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14480740 }}</ref>
The genus ''Alauda'' has four extant and at least two extinct species. Formerly, many other species have also been considered to belong to the genus; Linnaeus originally also included pipits and the eastern meadowlark in the genus.<ref name=Linnaeus/> As the first lark genus described, numerous other larks were also first described as species of ''Alauda'' before being transferred to new genera from the early 19th century onwards.
===Extant species=== The genus contains four species:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Nicators, reedling, larks | work=World Bird List Version 8.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/larks/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=15 July 2018 }}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution |- |120px || ''Alauda leucoptera'' || White-winged lark || southern Ukraine through Kazakhstan to south-central Russia |- |120px || ''Alauda razae'' || Raso lark|| Raso islet in the Cape Verde Islands |- |120px || ''Alauda gulgula'' || Oriental skylark || southern, central and eastern Asia |- |120px || ''Alauda arvensis'' || Eurasian skylark || across Europe and Asia |- |}
===Extinct species=== * †''Alauda xerarvensis'' (late Pliocene of Varshets, Bulgaria)<ref>Boev, Z. 2012. Neogene Larks (Aves: Alaudidae (Vigors, 1825)) from Bulgaria - Acta zoologica bulgarica, 64 (3), 2012: 295-318.</ref> * †''Alauda tivadari'' (late Miocene of Polgardi, Hungary)<ref>Kessler, E. 2013. Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary. – Hantkeniana, Budapest, 2013, 8: 37-149.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|position=left}}
{{Passerida|S.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q378278}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Alauda Category:Bird genera Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus