Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark

SCI Name:  Eremopterix signatus
Protonym:  Pyrrhulauda signata Bibl.EcoleHaut.Etud. 31 art.10 p.9
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Alaudidae / Eremopterix
Taxonomy Code:  chhspl1
Type Locality:  Somaliland.
Author:  Oustalet
Publish Year:  1886
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

EREMOPTERIX
(Alaudidae; Ϯ Chestnut-backed Sparrow Lark E. leucotis melanocephala) Gr. ερημος erēmos  desert; πτερυξ pterux, πτερυγος pterugos  bird, winged creature; "Es gibt noch ein zahlloses Heer erotischer Finken, die jedoch bis jetzt chaotisch durch einander geworfen und keinseswegs in natürlichen Abtheilungen gesondert dastehen, auch müssen sie, je nachdem sie höhere oder niedere Formen repräsentiren, gestellt, und z. B. die steissschwänzigen Finken Dolychoeix, als die Spechte der Finken vor den Lerchen-Finken Eremopterix, angeführt werden; ich nenne so einige afrikanische Sperlinge mit außerst kurzen Zehen, ziemlich geraden Spornen, stark ausgeschnittenen Flügeln, hohem Schnabel und hellfarbigem Gefieder; und zähle hierzu otoleuca orucigera [sic] etc." (Kaup 1836); "Eremopterix Kaup, 1836, Das Thierreich, 2, Th. 1, p. 139, in text. Type, by subsequent designation, Fringilla otoleuca Temminck = Alauda melanocephala Lichtenstein (Bianchi, 1907, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg (5), (1906), 25, p. 29)." (Peters, 1960, IX, p. 29).   
Var. Eremopteryx.   
Synon. Coraphites, Hovacorys, Megalotis, Pyrgilauda, Pyrrhulauda.

signata / signatum / signatus
L. signatus  distinct, marked, well marked  < signare  to mark or inscribe  < signum  sign.
● ex “Petit Perroquet vert” of Levaillant 1801-1805 (syn. Amazona agilis).
● ex “Perruche à tête rouge” of Sonnerat 1776 (syn. Psittacula cyanocephala).

SUBSPECIES

Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark (signatus)
SCI Name: Eremopterix signatus signatus
signata / signatum / signatus
L. signatus  distinct, marked, well marked  < signare  to mark or inscribe  < signum  sign.
● ex “Petit Perroquet vert” of Levaillant 1801-1805 (syn. Amazona agilis).
● ex “Perruche à tête rouge” of Sonnerat 1776 (syn. Psittacula cyanocephala).

Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark (harrisoni)
SCI Name: Eremopterix signatus harrisoni
harrisoni
● Ed N. Harrison (1914-2002) US naturalist, wildlife photographer, collector, a founder of Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology 1954 (syn. Catharus dryas ovandensis, subsp. Geositta rufipennis).
● Dr James Maurice Harrison (1892-1971) British ornithologist, taxidermist (syn. Charadrius hiaticula, subsp. Chloris chloris, syn Sitta europaea caesia).
● George Leib Harrison, Jr. (b. 1872) US ornithologist, collector in East Africa 1904 (syn. Cisticola hunteri).
● Colin James Oliver Harrison (1926-2003) English ornithologist (‡Ducula).
● Lt.-Col. James Jonathan Harrison (1858-1923) British Army, big-game hunter, collector in Somalia, Kenya and Abyssinia 1899-1900 (subsp. Eremopterix signatus).
● “I take pleasure in naming this new form in honor of Mr Frank Harrison, who resides at the type locality [Rancho del Cielo, Tamaulipas, Mexico], and who has been unfailingly kind to me and to many of my students and friends who have visited him from time to time” (Sutton 1955) (subsp. Sittasomus griseicapillus).