Red-winged Lark

SCI Name:  Mirafra hypermetra
Protonym:  Spilocorydon hypermetrus Orn.Centralbl. 4 p.155 cdP
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Alaudidae / Mirafra
Taxonomy Code:  rewlar1
Type Locality:  Kibaradja [Tana River, Kenya Colony].
Author:  Reichenow
Publish Year:  1879
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).

hypermetra / hypermetrus
Gr. ὑπερμετρος hupermetros excessive, beyond measure  < ὑπερ huper  exceeding; μετρον metron  measure, standard.

Hypermetra
(Trochilidae; syn. Patagona † Giant Hummingbird P. gigas) Gr. ὑπερμετρος hupermetros  excessive  < ὑπερ huper  exceeding; μετρον metron  measure, standard; "Gen. HYPERMETRA *) Nob. —  Cynanthus Less. 1829 (nec Sws. 1827).  Patagona (!) Gray 1840.  Hylocharis Id. 1848 (nec Boie 1831).   183.  1. H. gigas Nob.   Trochilus gigas Vieill. Gal. Ois. II. p. 296. t. 180.  ...  Ornismya tristis Less. Ois. Mouch. p. 43. t. 3.  ...  Ornismya gigantea Orb. & Lafr. Syn. p.   ...    *) Von υπερμετρος (übermässig gross)." (Cabanis & Heine 1860); "Hypermetra Cabanis and Heine, 1860, Museum Heineanum, III, p. 80.  New name for Patagona G. Gray, 1840, considered barbarous, and for Cynanthus Lesson, 1829, and for Hylocharis G. Gray, 1848, both preoccupied." (JAJ 2021).

SUBSPECIES

Red-winged Lark (Red-winged)
SCI Name: Mirafra hypermetra [hypermetra Group]
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.

Red-winged Lark (Rift Valley)
SCI Name: Mirafra hypermetra gallarum
gallarum
Galla or Oromo, a people of Ethiopia.