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Cyanocorax

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Cyanocorax
Plush-crested jay, Cyanocorax chrysops
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Cyanocorax
F. Boie, 1826
Type species
Corvus pileatus[1]
Temminck, 1821
Species

Some 20, see text

Synonyms

Calocitta
Cissilopha
Psilorhinus Rüppell, 1838
Uroleuca Bonaparte, 1859
Xanthoura

Cyanocorax is a genus of New World jays, passerine birds in the family Corvidae. It contains several closely related species that primarily are found in wooded habitats, chiefly in lowland tropical rainforest but in some cases also in seasonally dry forest, grassland and montane forest. They occur from Mexico through Central into southern South America, with the green jay and brown jay just entering the United States in southernmost Texas, ad the Azure and Plush-crested jays occurring southwards to the lower Paraná River basin. This genus is considered especially close to Cyanolyca, an upland radiation occurring throughout the American Cordillera from Mexico to Peru and Bolivia, who look very similar to the blue-and-black species of Cyanocorax except for being a bit smaller. The North American blue jay genera Aphelocoma, Cyanocitta and Gymnorhinus seem to be slightly less closely related.[2]

Cyanocorax jays are generally black-and-blue, often with considerable amounts of white plumage, tinged more of less strongly yellow in a few species; in one lineage of the latter, green replaces most blue coloration. Some species have elongated neck plumes, some others have crests on the forehead. The eyes are bright yellow in most species, the bills black in adults, and the feet usually black too.[3]

The genus Cyanocorax was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826, with the plush-crested jay as the type species.[4][5] The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek words κυανος (kuanos), meaning "dark blue", and κοραξ (korax), meaning "raven".[6][7]

Systematics and evolution

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With the merge of the formerly separate genera Calocitta (the two magpie-jays) and Psilorhinus (brown jay) into Cyanocorax, the genus now contains some 20 species:[2][8][9]

The expanded genus Cyanocorax can be neatly divided into two clades, the first containing the former Calocitta and Psilorhinus as well as the South American lineage which was historically treated as genus Uroleucus. The other clade unites the remaining South American species with the group formerly separated as Cissilopha, as well as the Inca jay group which are the only members of the genus to have highly-concentrated carotenoid pigments in their plumage;[2] some ornithologists treat the two lineages of the Inca jay group as conspecific.[10][11]

The genus' origin seems to be the Isthmus of Panama region or the northern Andes. An initial split resulted on one hand in a triple radiation along the Caribbean (Psilorhinus) and Pacific (Calocitta) coasts of Central America, as well as into South America (Uroleuca). Concurrently, the ancestors of the White-tailed jay became separated west of the northern Andes, on the Pacific coast of northwestern South America, while the Xanthoura radiation expanded along the foothills of the main Andes chain and adjacent mountain ranges, as well as into the Central American lowlands. From the same stock as the preceding two, a second multi-pronged radiation expanded into Central America (the former Cissilopha species) as well as into South America (in two branches, a northern and a southeastwards one). The Tufted jay, the northwesternmost member of this genus, seems to be a distinct fourth and ancient branch of this radiation, perhaps a remnant of an early expansion that largely went extinct as the Cissilopha lineage displaced it.[2]

Species

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Image Scientific name Common Name Distribution
C.formosus group (Calocitta s.str.): Pacific Central America
Cyanocorax colliei Black-throated magpie-jay west Mexico
Cyanocorax formosus White-throated magpie-jay south Mexico to Costa Rica
C.morio lineage (Psilorhinus): Caribbean Central America
Cyanocorax morio Brown jay widespread in Central America, also in south Texas
C.cyanomelas group (Uroleuca): South America
Cyanocorax caeruleus
(tentatively placed here)		 Azure jay south-eastern Brazil (São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul), far eastern Paraguay and far north-eastern Argentina
Cyanocorax violaceus
(paraphyletic?)		 Violaceous jay Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela
Cyanocorax cyanomelas Purplish jay northern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and southeastern Peru
Cyanocorax cristatellus Curl-crested jay northeastern Brazil
C.yncas group (Xanthoura): lowland Central and upland South America
Cyanocorax luxuosus
(doubtfully distinct from C.yncas)		 Green jay southern Texas to Honduras
Cyanocorax yncas Inca jay Colombia and Venezuela through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
C.mystacalis lineage: northwest (Pacific) South America
Cyanocorax mystacalis White-tailed jay Ecuador and Peru
C.beecheii group (Cissilopha): Central America
Cyanocorax melanocyaneus Bushy-crested jay Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua
Cyanocorax yucatanicus Yucatan jay Yucatán Peninsula
Cyanocorax beecheii Purplish-backed jay northwestern Mexico
Cyanocorax sanblasianus San Blas jay Mexico
C.dickeyi lineage: Pacific Mexico
Cyanocorax dickeyi Tufted jay Sierra Madre Occidental of Sinaloa and Durango in Mexico
C.affinis group: northern (Caribbean) South America
Cyanocorax affinis Black-chested jay Colombia, northwestern Venezuela, Panama and far eastern Costa Rica
Cyanocorax hafferi
(doubtfully distinct from C.heilprini)		 Campina jay Campina savanna of Amazonian Brazil
Cyanocorax heilprini Azure-naped jay Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela
C.cayanus group: eastern (Atlantic) South America
Cyanocorax cayanus Cayenne jay Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela
Cyanocorax chrysops Plush-crested jay southwestern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina
Cyanocorax cyanopogon White-naped jay Brazil

The fossil corvid Protocitta dixi, described from Middle Pleistocene (Illinoian, Penultimate Glacial Period, roughly 150.000 years ago) remains found in a former cave near Reddick, Florida, was described as similar to both Calocitta and Psilorhinus lineages. Although no cladistic analysis was conducted, at least qualitatively it was assessed as less closely related to the Holarctic magpies, who are a member of the "monochrome" radiation of crows and ravens, so it is very likely that Protocitta was indeed a prehistoric American blue jay. No Cyanocorax is attested from anywhere near Florida however, and since Protocitta was not compared to the North American radiation of blue jays,[12] it is at least as likely to belong with the latter group.

References

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  1. ^ "Corvidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ a b c d Bonaccorso, Elisa; Peterson, A. Townsend; Navarro-Sigüenza, Adolfo G.; Fleischer, Robert C. (March 2010). "Molecular systematics and evolution of the Cyanocorax jays". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 54 (3): 897–909. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.11.014. hdl:1808/6568. PMID 19931623. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  3. ^ Madge & Burn (1999)
  4. ^ Boie, Friedrich (1826). "Generalübersicht". Isis von Oken (in German). 1826. Col 975.
  5. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1962). Check-list of birds of the world. Vol. 15. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 220.
  6. ^ Holloway, Joel Ellis (2003). Dictionary of Birds of the United States: Scientific and Common Names. Timber Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-88192-600-2.
  7. ^ Jobling, J.A. (2015). 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. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015.
  8. ^ Chesser, R. T., et al. (2024). Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. Ornithology 141 (3): 1-21.
  9. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  10. ^ dos Anjos, L. (2018). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  11. ^ Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. pp. 240–241. ISBN 978-0-9568611-2-2.
  12. ^ Brodkorb, Pierce (1957): New Passerine Birds from the Pleistocene of Reddick, Florida. Journal of Paleontology 31(1): 129-138.
  • Madge, S.; H. Burn (1999). Crows and Jays. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-7136-5207-1.
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