Cyanocorax

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

20, see text

Synonyms

Calocitta G. R. Gray, 1841
Cissilopha Bonaparte, 1850
Psilorhinus Rüppell, 1838
Uroleuca Bonaparte, 1859
Xanthoura Bonaparte, 1850

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, but brown or yellow to green in a few species. Some species have elongated neck plumes, some others have crests or bristle tufts on the forehead; a few have patches of bare skin on the face. The eyes are bright yellow in just over half the species, the bills black in adults (yellow to pinkish in juveniles), and the feet usually black, but brown or yellow in a few species.[3]

The genus Cyanocorax was described 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]

  1. ^ "Corvidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference bonaccorsoetal2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Madge & Burn (1993)
  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.