Eastern Meadowlark - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Linnaeus in his 1758 Systema naturae as Alauda magna. The type locality is mistakenly given as "America, Africa"

Linnaeus' error is explained by two facts: first, he did not distinguish between the Eastern and Western meadowlarks. The peculiar belief that this bird also occurred in Africa is due to confusion of the yellow-breasted meadowlarks with certain longclaws (Macronyx), quite unrelated African songbirds. Specifically the Cape Longclaw (M. capensis) and the Yellow-throated Longclaw (M. croceus) share similar habitat and habits, explaining the long hind toe; their plumage pattern however is all but identical, a striking example of convergent evolution. As this exact pattern provides no obvious adaptive benefit compared to that of other meadowlarks and longclaws, it seems to have arisen twice by sheer chance.

Linnaeus recognized his error less than a decade later, separating the longclaws from their meadowlark look-alikes.

The scientific name Sturnella magna is Latin for, rather confusingly, "large little starling", the generic name having been given due to the meadowlarks' behavior being similar to starlings.