They are widely distributed in open savannah-type habitats across sub-Saharan Africa.

A 2023 molecular phylogenetic study of the lark family Alaudidae by the Swedish ornithologist Per Alström and his collaborators found that the genus Mirafra contained deep internal genetic divergences.

For one of these clades they resurrected the genus Corypha that had originally been introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist George Gray with Alauda apiata Vieillot, 1816, the Cape clapper lark, as the type species.

[4] A comprehensive integrated study of the genus, published in 2024, combined analyses of the plumage, morphology, vocalization and phylogenetics.

[5] This led to a substantial revision of the specific boundaries and an increase in the number of recognised species.