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Cape longclaw
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Motacillidae
Genus:	Macronyx
Species:	M. capensis
Binomial name
	Macronyx capensis; (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms
	Alauda capensis Linnaeus, 1766

The Cape longclaw or orange-throated longclaw (Macronyx capensis) is a passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which comprises the longclaws, pipits and wagtails.^[2] It occurs in Southern Africa in Zimbabwe and southern and eastern South Africa. This species is found in coastal and mountain grassland, often near water.^[2]

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Cape longclaw in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope. He used the French name L'alouette du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Alauda Capitis Bonae Spei.^[3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.^[4] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.^[4] One of these was the Cape longclaw. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Alauda capensis and cited Brisson's work.^[5] The specific name capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope.^[6] The species is now placed in the genus Macronyx that was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1827 with the Cape longclaw as the type species.^[7]^[8]

Two subspecies are recognised:^[9]

M. c. capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) – southwest, south South Africa
M. c. colletti Schou, 1908 – southeast Botswana and Zimbabwe to Mozambique and east South Africa

Description

The Cape longclaw is a 19–20 cm long.^[2] The adult male has a grey head with a buff supercilium and a streaked blackish back. It has a bright orange gorget, black breast band and otherwise yellow underparts. The female is duller, having a yellow throat and much weaker breast band. The juvenile has a dirty yellow throat, indistinct breast band, and yellowish white underparts.^[2]

The Cape longclaw is usually found in pairs throughout the year. It feeds on the ground on insects and some seeds. The song is a musical cheewit cheewit, the contact call is tsweet, and there is also a mewling alarm call. Typically not found in larger groups than two, a breeding pair or more often singly.^[2] Another behavioural characteristic is the tendency of birds to stand on top of stones, anthills or large grass clumps. While doing so birds stand upright with their breast extended.^[2]

This species has a striking resemblance to the unrelated icterid meadowlarks, grassland birds of the Americas. This is presumably due to convergent evolution.

References

^ BirdLife International (2016). "Macronyx capensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22718414A94579469. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22718414A94579469.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Newman, Vanessa (2010). Newman's Birds of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Pippa Parker. p. 328. ISBN 9781770078765.
^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 364–367, Plate 19 fig 3. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
^ ^a ^b Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 28: 317–335. hdl:2246/678.
^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 288.
^ Jobling, J.A. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ Swainson, William John (1827). "On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined". Zoological Journal. 3: 343–363 [344].
^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 142.
^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2018). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". World Bird List Version 8.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 April 2018.