The Rufous-naped lark Mirafra africana complex consists of 22 subspecies spread across the African continent. Several of the subspecies have recently been suggested to potentially be treated as separate species. In this study a comparative analysis was done on the song from seven of the subspecies: M. a. africana, M. a. athi, M. a. grisescens, M. a. kabalii, M. a. nyikae, M. a. transvaalensis and M. a. tropicalis. The results showed that M. a. athi, M. a. kabalii and M. a. nyikae are all very divergent from each other as well as from the other four subspecies. In contrast, M. a. tropicalis, M. a. grisescens, M. a. africana and M. a. transvaalensis are not clearly separable from each other. Based on the results, I suggest that M. a. athi, M. a. kabalii and M. a. nyikae can be classified as separate species, with M. a. africana, M. a. tropicalis, M. a grisescens and M. a. transvaalensis forming a fourth species (M. africana sensu stricto). Finally, I conclude that this study shows that more studies need to be done on the subspecies of the Mirafra africana complex.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-435322 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Nymark, Marianne Kristine |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för biologisk grundutbildning, Uppsala universitet, Zooekologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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