The fragmentation of quasi-projectiles from the nuclear reaction $^{40}$Ca+$^{12}$C at 25 MeV per nucleon bombarding energy was used to produce $alpha$-emission sources. From a careful selection of these sources provided by a complete detection and from comparisons with models of sequential and simultaneous decays, evidence in favor of $alpha$-particle clustering from excited $^{16}O$, $^{20}Ne$ and $^{24}Mg$ is reported.