List of Corvus species

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The following is a list of all currently recognized species within the passerine bird genus Corvus (the crows and ravens).

Extant species

The genus contains 50 species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/crows/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=16 September 2024 }}

==Fossil forms==

  • {{extinct}} Corvus galushai – (fossil: Big Sandy Late Miocene of Wickieup, United States)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus praecorax – (fossil: Early Pliocene of Perpignan, France; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus simionescui – (fossil: Early Pliocene of Maluşteni-Bereşti, Romania; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus hungaricus – (fossil: Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Southern Europe; tentatively placed here)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus moravicus – (fossil: Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Central to Eastern Europe; possibly a subspecies of C. monedula)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus pliocaenus – (fossil: Late Pliocene –? Early/Middle Pleistocene of Europe; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus antecorax – (fossil: Late Pliocene – Late Pleistocene of Europe; may be C. janossyi, possibly a subspecies of C. corax)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus bragai – (fossil: Pliocene/Pleistocene transition of South Africa){{Cite journal|last=Pavia|first=Marco|date=2020-11-15|title=Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Cradle of Humankind during the Plio-Pleistocene transition, inferred from the analysis of fossil birds from Member 2 of the hominin-bearing site of Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa)|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379120304947|journal=Quaternary Science Reviews|language=en|volume=248|pages=106532|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106532|bibcode=2020QSRv..24806532P |issn=0277-3791}}
  • {{extinct}} Corvus betfianus – (fossil: Early Pleistocene of Betfi, Romania; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus fossilis – (fossil: Late Pleistocene Seveckenberg, Germany; probably a subspecies of C. corax)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus neomexicanus – (fossil: Late Pleistocene of Dry Cave, United States)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus antipodumNew Zealand raven (prehistoric: New Zealand)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus impluviatushigh-billed crow (prehistoric: Hawaii)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus moriorumChatham raven (prehistoric: the Chatham Islands, the southwestern Pacific)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus pumilisPuerto Rican crow (prehistoric: Puerto Rico; possibly a subspecies of C. nasicus/palmarum)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus viriosusrobust crow (prehistoric: Hawaii)
  • {{extinct}} Corvus sp. – New Ireland crow (prehistoric: New Ireland, Melanesia)

The taxonomy of the C. antecorax/C. fossilis complex as well as the C. pliocaenus/C. betfianus/C. praecorax/C. simionescui, in particular the temporal succession and relationship to the living relatives, is not yet fully resolved. At least some of these "species" seem to have been direct ancestors of the living forms as listed above.

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species as species within the genus Corvus:

  • Western jackdaw (as Corvus monedula)
  • Daurian jackdaw (as Corvus dauuricus)
  • Eurasian jay (as Corvus glandarius)
  • northwestern crow (the Olympic Peninsula to southwestern Alaska). Corvus caurinus was once considered a separate species from Corvus brachyrhynchos (the American crow) but has since been merged into it due to genetic overlap and mating patterns.{{Cite web |date=2020-09-04 |title=Why the Northwestern Crow Vanished Overnight {{!}} Audubon |url=https://www.audubon.org/news/why-northwestern-crow-vanished-overnight |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=www.audubon.org |language=en}}

References