Cyanolyca is a genus of small jays found in humid highland forests in southern Mexico, Central America and the Andes in South America. All are largely blue and have a black mask. They also possess black bills and legs and are skulking birds. They frequently join mixed-species flocks of birds.
Taxonomy
The genus Cyanolyca was introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek κυανος/ kuanos meaning "dark-blue" with λυκος/lukos, a type of crow, perhaps the jackdaw, that was mentioned by Aristotle and Hesychius of Alexandria. Cabanis did not specify a type species but in 1855 George Gray designated the type as Cyanocorax armillatus Gray, 1845, the black-collared jay.
Species
The genus contains nine species.
{| class="wikitable"
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! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution
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| ||White-throated jay||Cyanolyca mirabilis||120px
|-
|120px||Dwarf jay||Cyanolyca nanus||120px
|-
|120px||Black-throated jay||Cyanolyca pumilo||120px
|-
|120px||Silvery-throated jay||Cyanolyca argentigula||120px
|-
|120px||Azure-hooded jay||Cyanolyca cucullata||120px
|-
|120px||Beautiful jay||Cyanolyca pulchra||120px
|-
|120px||Black-collared jay||Cyanolyca armillata||120px
|-
|120px||Turquoise jay||Cyanolyca turcosa||120px
|-
|120px||White-collared jay||Cyanolyca viridicyanus||120px
|-
|}