Turkestan short-toed lark

The Turkestan short-toed lark (Alaudala heinei) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in Ukraine and central Turkey through parts of Central Asia and southern Siberia west to south-central Mongolia and south to southern Afghanistan.^[1] This species and the Mediterranean short-toed lark (A. rufescens) were formerly considered conspecific and called the lesser short-toed lark, but a 2020 study recovered them as distinct species.^[2][3]

Turkestan short-toed lark
In Muradiye, Van, Turkey
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Alaudidae
Genus:	Alaudala
Species:	A. heinei
Binomial name
Alaudala heinei (Homeyer, 1873)

Etymology

The genus name Alaudala is the diminutive of Alauda. The specific name heinei commemorates the German ornithologist Ferdinand Heine.^[4]

Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized:^[1]

• Alaudala heinei pseudobaetica - (Stegmann, 1932): Found in eastern Turkey, Transcaucasia and northern Iran
• Alaudala heinei heinei - (Homeyer, 1873): Found from Ukraine to eastern Kazakhstan
• Alaudala heinei aharonii - (Hartert, 1910): Found in central Turkey
• Alaudala heinei persica - Sharpe, 1890: Found in eastern and southern Iraq to southern and south-western Afghanistan