thumb|Skeleton of American crow ([[Museum of Osteology)]]

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 47 species:

  • Corvus splendens <small>Vieillot, 1817</small> – house crow or Indian house crow (Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Middle East, eastern Africa)
  • Corvus moneduloides <small>Lesson, RP, 1831</small> – New Caledonian crow (New Caledonia)
  • Corvus typicus <small>(Bonaparte, 1853)</small> – piping crow or Celebes pied crow (Sulawesi and Muna, Indonesia)
  • Corvus unicolor <small>(Rothschild & Hartert, EJO, 1900)</small> – Banggai crow (Banggai Island, Indonesia)
  • Corvus enca <small>(Horsfield, 1821)</small> – Sunda crow, formerly slender-billed crow (Malaysia, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia)
  • Corvus celebensis <small>Stresemann, 1936</small> – Sulawesi crow (Sulawesi and Sula Islands )
  • Corvus samarensis <small>Steere, 1890</small> – Samar crow, formerly small crow (Samar and Mindanao, Philippines)
  • Corvus sierramadrensis <small>Rand & Rabor, 1961</small> – Sierra Madre crow (Luzon, Philippines)
  • Corvus pusillus <small>Tweeddale, 1878</small> – Palawan crow (Palawan, Philippines)
  • Corvus violaceus <small>Bonaparte, 1850</small> – violet crow (Seram, Indonesia)
  • Corvus florensis <small>Büttikofer, 1894</small> – Flores crow (Flores, Indonesia)
  • Corvus kubaryi <small>Reichenow, 1885</small> – Mariana crow or aga (Guam and Rota, Northern Mariana Islands)
  • Corvus validus <small>Bonaparte, 1850</small> – long-billed crow (northern Moluccas, Indonesia)
  • Corvus woodfordi <small>(Ogilvie-Grant, 1887)</small> – white-billed crow or Solomon Islands crow (southern Solomon Islands)
  • Corvus meeki <small>Rothschild, 1904</small> – Bougainville crow or Solomon Islands crow (Bougainville Island and Shortland Islands, Solomon Islands)
  • Corvus fuscicapillus <small>Gray, GR, 1859</small> – brown-headed crow (New Guinea)
  • Corvus tristis <small>Lesson, RP & Garnot, 1827</small> – grey crow or bare-faced crow (New Guinea and nearby islands)
  • Corvus capensis <small>Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823</small> – Cape crow or Cape rook (east and southern Africa)
  • Corvus frugilegus <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> – rook (Eurasia, introduced to New Zealand)
  • Corvus brachyrhynchos <small>Brehm, CL, 1822</small> – American crow (the United States, southern Canada and northern Mexico)
  • Corvus imparatus <small>Peters, JL, 1929</small> – Tamaulipas crow (Gulf of Mexico coast of Texas and northeastern Mexico)
  • Corvus sinaloae <small>Davis, LI, 1958</small> –– Sinaloa crow (Pacific Coast of Mexico)
  • Corvus ossifragus <small>Wilson, A, 1812</small> – fish crow (eastern United States coast)
  • Corvus palmarum <small>Württemberg, 1835</small> – Hispaniolan palm crow (Hispaniola) (formerly conspecific with Cuban palm crow)
  • Corvus minutus <small>Gundlach, 1852</small> – Cuban palm crow (Cuba) (formerly conspecific with the Hispaniolan palm crow)
  • Corvus jamaicensis <small>Gmelin, JF, 1788</small> – Jamaican crow (Jamaica)
  • Corvus nasicus <small>Temminck, 1826</small> – Cuban crow (Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, Turks and Caicos Islands)
  • Corvus leucognaphalus <small>Daudin, 1800</small> – white-necked crow (Hispaniola)
  • Corvus hawaiiensis <small>Peale, 1849</small> (formerly C. tropicus) – Hawaiian crow (Hawaii)
  • Corvus corone <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> – carrion crow (Eurasia)
  • Corvus cornix <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> – hooded crow (northern and eastern Europe and northern Africa)
  • Corvus torquatus <small>Lesson, RP, 1831</small> – collared crow (eastern China south into Vietnam)
  • Corvus macrorhynchos <small>Wagler, 1827</small> – large-billed crow (Himalayas, East Asia, the Malay Peninsula, Sunda Islands, and the Philippines)
  • Corvus philippinus <small>Bonaparte, 1853</small> – Philippine jungle crow (Philippines)
  • Corvus orru <small>Bonaparte, 1850</small> – Torresian crow or Australian crow (Australia, New Guinea, Lesser Sunda Islands)
  • Corvus insularis <small>Heinroth, 1903</small> – Bismarck crow (Bismark Archipelago, Papua New Guinea)
  • Corvus bennetti <small>North, 1901</small> – little crow (Australia)
  • Corvus tasmanicus <small>Mathews, 1912</small> – forest raven or Tasmanian raven (Tasmania and adjacent southern coast of Australia)
  • Corvus mellori <small>Mathews, 1912</small> – little raven (southeastern Australia)
  • Corvus coronoides <small>Vigors & Horsfield, 1827</small> – Australian raven (eastern and southern Australia)
  • Corvus albus <small>Müller, PLS, 1776</small> – pied crow (Central African coasts to southern Africa)
  • Corvus ruficollis <small>Lesson, RP, 1831</small> – brown-necked raven (north Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Central Asia, Pakistan)
  • Corvus edithae <small>Lort Phillips, 1895</small> – Somali crow (eastern Africa)
  • Corvus corax <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> – common raven or northern raven (the Holarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere)
  • Corvus cryptoleucus <small>Couch, 1854</small> – Chihuahuan raven (southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico)
  • Corvus rhipidurus <small>Hartert, EJO, 1918</small> – fan-tailed raven (eastern Africa, Middle East)
  • Corvus albicollis <small>Latham, 1790</small> – white-necked raven or Cape raven (southern, central, and eastern Africa)
  • Corvus crassirostris <small>Rüppell, 1836</small> – thick-billed raven (Ethiopia)

==Fossil forms==<!-- source is mostly Mlikovsky 2002, but note his synonymy is not usually supported by subsequent authors -->

  • Corvus galushai – (fossil: Big Sandy Late Miocene of Wickieup, United States)
  • Corvus praecorax – (fossil: Early Pliocene of Perpignan, France; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
  • Corvus simionescui – (fossil: Early Pliocene of Maluşteni-Bereşti, Romania; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
  • Corvus hungaricus – (fossil: Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Southern Europe; tentatively placed here)
  • Corvus moravicus – (fossil: Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Central to Eastern Europe; possibly a subspecies of C. monedula)
  • Corvus pliocaenus – (fossil: Late Pliocene –? Early/Middle Pleistocene of Europe; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)<!-- Ardeola51:91 Boreas32:521 -->
  • Corvus antecorax – (fossil: Late Pliocene – Late Pleistocene of Europe; may be C. janossyi, possibly a subspecies of C. corax)<!-- Ardeola51:91; Boreas32:521; ColoqPaleontol1:345 RevPortArqueol5:29 -->
  • Corvus bragai – (fossil: Pliocene/Pleistocene transition of South Africa)
  • Corvus betfianus – (fossil: Early Pleistocene of Betfi, Romania; possibly a subspecies of C. corone/cornix)
  • Corvus fossilis – (fossil: Late Pleistocene Seveckenberg, Germany; probably a subspecies of C. corax)
  • Corvus neomexicanus – (fossil: Late Pleistocene of Dry Cave, United States)<!-- Condor78:399 -->
  • Corvus antipodum – New Zealand raven (prehistoric: New Zealand)
  • Corvus impluviatus – high-billed crow (prehistoric: Hawaii)
  • Corvus moriorum – Chatham raven (prehistoric: the Chatham Islands, the southwestern Pacific)
  • Corvus pumilis – Puerto Rican crow (prehistoric: Puerto Rico; possibly a subspecies of C. nasicus/palmarum)
  • Corvus viriosus – robust crow (prehistoric: Hawaii)
  • 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.

References