Subspecies
May form a superspecies with Somali Short-toed Lark (Alaudala somalica), until recently considered conspecific, and Sand Lark (Alaudala raytal). Has sometimes been considered conspecific also with Sand Lark (Alaudala raytal), but considerable differences in morphology, song and habitat choice. Was in the past sometimes referred to as Calandrella pispoletta; that name has priority, but uncertain whether it applies to present species or to another member of the group. Geographical variation marked and complex; eastern subspecies often treated as a separate species "Calandrella cheleensis", largely on grounds of apparent overlap of subspecies heinei and leucophaea in region from Turkmenistan to southern Kazakhstan, but not clear which taxa should be included within it, usually those eastern from Turkmenistan, although some authors have included subspecies from as far western as Ukraine (heinei) and central Turkey (niethammeri). Further study is needed. Subspecies tangutica sometimes merged with kukunoorensis, and stegmanni with beicki. Birds from Transbaikalia named as subspecies obscura, but indistinguishable from cheleensis; others from Tuva Republic and north-western Mongolia described as tuvinica, synonymized with seebohmi but possibly a valid subspecies; aharonii (described from wintering specimens in central Syria) is probably a synonym of persica.
The following 17 subspecies are recognised:
rufescens (Vieillot, 1820) - Tenerife, in west-central Canary Is.
apetzii (Brehm, AE, 1857) - Southern Portugal and southern and eastern Spain.
minor (Cabanis, 1851) - Northern Africa (from southern Morocco east to north-western Egypt) and from southern Turkey south to northern Sinai Peninsula and east to central Iraq.
nicolli (Hartert, 1909) - Nile Delta (northern Egypt).
heinei (Homeyer, 1873) - Breeds Ukraine east to eastern Kazakhstan (Semipalatinsk region), south to Aral Sea and Syr Darya Valley.
leucophaea Severtsov, 1873 - Breeds Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan (south of Kyzyl Kum) and south-eastern Kazakhstan east to L Balkhash and Fergana Basin. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Asian Short-toed Lark (Alaudala cheleensis).
niethammeri Kumerloeve, 1963 - Central Turkey (Anatolian High Plateau).
persica Sharpe, 1890 - Eastern and southern Iraq, Iran (except north-west) and western and south-western Afghanistan.
seebohmi (Sharpe, 1890) - Southern Russia (Tuva), western Mongolia and extreme north-western China (Xinjiang, from Tien Shan south to Kashgaria, east to R Khostan). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Asian Short-toed Lark (Alaudala cheleensis).
beicki Meise, 1933 - South-western Mongolia and bordering areas of northern China (Gansu, Ningxia). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Asian Short-toed Lark (Alaudala cheleensis).
stegmanni Meise, 1937 - North-central China (north-western Gansu). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Asian Short-toed Lark (Alaudala cheleensis).
kukunoorensis (Przevalski, 1876) - West-central China (Qaidam Basin, in northern Qinghai). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Asian Short-toed Lark (Alaudala cheleensis).
tangutica Hartert and Steinbacher, 1933 - Southern Qinghai and north-eastern Tibet. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Asian Short-toed Lark (Alaudala cheleensis).
cheleensis (Swinhoe, 1871) - South-central to eastern. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Asian Short-toed Lark (Alaudala cheleensis).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet