Masked Lark

SCI Name:  Spizocorys personata
Protonym:  Spizocorys personata Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt3 p.471
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Alaudidae / Spizocorys
Taxonomy Code:  maslar1
Type Locality:  Sassabana, near Milmil, Ethiopian Somaliland.
Author:  Sharpe
Publish Year:  1895
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SPIZOCORYS
(Alaudidae; Ϯ Pink-billed Lark S. conirostris) Gr. σπιζα spiza  finch  < σπιζω spizō  to chirp; Mod. L. corys  lark  < Gr. κορυδος korudos  crested lark  < κορυς korus, κορυθος koruthos  helmet; "Spizocorys  n. g.  (Al. conirostris Sundev. Vet. Ak. Ö. 1850) rostro brevi, crassius conico, culmine vix arcuato; naribus setis obtectis; colore alaudino, maculato.  Nomen: ςπιζα, passer: κορυς, alauda. (Obs. κορις, coris = Cimex, quod probe observandum)" (Sundevall 1872).
Synon. Aethocorys, Botha, Dewetia, Pseudalaemon.

personata / personatus
L. personatus  masked  < persona  mask.
● ex “Perroquet Geoffroy” of Levaillant 1805 (syn. Geoffroyus geoffroyi).
● ex “Chouette à Masque Noir” of Levaillant 1799, pl. 44 (syn. Pulsatrix perspicillata).

SUBSPECIES

Masked Lark (personata)
SCI Name: Spizocorys personata personata
personata / personatus
L. personatus  masked  < persona  mask.
● ex “Perroquet Geoffroy” of Levaillant 1805 (syn. Geoffroyus geoffroyi).
● ex “Chouette à Masque Noir” of Levaillant 1799, pl. 44 (syn. Pulsatrix perspicillata).

Masked Lark (yavelloensis)
SCI Name: Spizocorys personata yavelloensis
yavelloensis
Yavello or Yabelo, Oromia, southern Ethiopia.

Masked Lark (mcchesneyi)
SCI Name: Spizocorys personata mcchesneyi
mcchesneyi
Col. Donald Stevenson McChesney (1895-1983) US ornithologist, collector on Cornell University East Africa Expedition 1956 (subsp. Spizocorys personata).

Masked Lark (intensa)
SCI Name: Spizocorys personata intensa
intensa
L. intensus violent, intense, stretched < intendere to strain (cf. Late L. intensus eager, strong, intense).