Sabota Lark (Calendulauda sabota) [XC893262]
by Alan Collett from Kareeberg Local Municipality (near Saaipoort), Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, Northern Cape, South Africa (song)
Sabota Lark (Calendulauda) [XC444790]
by Gareth K. from Carlisle Bridge, Grahamstown, Western District, Eastern Cape, South Africa (song)
Subspecies
Bradfield's Lark (Mirafra naevia) and Sabota Lark (Calendulauda sabota) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Mirafra sabota following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993).
Large-billed subspecies naevia, herero and bradfieldi sometimes treated together as a separate species. Limited genetic evidence supports this split, but further work needed. Geographical variation within both "small-billed group" and "large-billed group" broadly clinal. Other named subspecies are elfriedae (eastern end of Etosha Pan, in northern Namibia), hoeschi (northern Damaraland, in north-central Namibia) and veseyfitzgeraldi (north-western Botswana), all synonymized with waibeli, and Namibian forms erongo and uis (both from north-western Damaraland), considered inseparable from naevia.
The following 9 subspecies are recognised:
plebeja (Cabanis, 1875) - Extreme north-western Angola (coast of Cabinda).
ansorgei (Sclater, WL, 1926) - Angolan coastal plain southern from western Cuanza Sul (from Sumbe).
naevia (Strickland, 1853) - North-western Namibia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Bradfield's Lark (Mirafra naevia).
herero (Roberts, 1936) - Central and southern Namibia.
bradfieldi (Roberts, 1928) - Semi-arid Karoo regions in central South Africa.
waibeli (Grote, 1922) - Northern Namibia and northern Botswana.
sabotoides (Roberts, 1932) - Central and southern Botswana, western Zimbabwe and north-western South Africa (Northwest Province).
sabota (Smith, 1836) - Highveld savanna in eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe and eastern South Africa.
suffusca (Clancey, 1958) - South-eastern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, and lowveld of South Africa and Swaziland.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet