List of Corvus species

The following is a list of species of crows and ravens within the genus Corvus. The list follows Taxonomy in Flux. The arrangement within the genus Corvus is based on Jønsson et al. (2011c?). This multi-gene analysis replaces a version based on the single-gene analysis of Haring et al. (2012).

Jønsson et al. describe their results in eight clades. They did not include the Cape Crow and Flores Crow. The Flores Crow seems to be in between Clades VII and VIII, and the Cape Crow is basal, although not a jackdaw.

Clade I
Kryukov and Suzuki (2000) and Haring et al. (2007a) found that the jackdaws were rather distant from the other Corvus species. They are split from Corvus into Coloeus, as recommended by Rasmussen and Anderton (2005).


 * Eurasian Jackdaw / Western Jackdaw, Coloeus monedula
 * Daurian Jackdaw, Coloeus dauuricus

Clade II

 * Cuban Crow, Corvus nasicus
 * White-necked Crow, Corvus leucognaphalus
 * Jamaican Crow, Corvus jamaicensis

Clade III
The Cuban and Hispaniolan races of the Palm Crow have been split for about 1 million years, IOC considers them separate species, while the AOU considers them subspecies.


 * Palm Crow, Corvus palmarum
 * Fish Crow, Corvus ossifragus
 * Sinaloa Crow, Corvus sinaloae
 * Tamaulipas Crow, Corvus imparatus


 * Cape Crow, Corvus capensis (in between)

Clade IV
The eastern and western Rooks could be considered separate species, Haring, et al. found this, but more sampling is needed, and whether there is a third rook species.


 * Rook, Corvus frugilegus
 * Hawaiian Crow, Corvus hawaiiensis

Clade V
The Chihuahuan Raven and possibly the Pied Crow, are imbedded in the Common Raven complex. The Chihuahuan Raven seems more closely related to the Common Ravens of California than either is to the other Common Ravens (Feldman and Omland, 2004; Omland, 2000, 2006).


 * Thick-billed Raven, Corvus crassirostris
 * White-necked Raven, Corvus albicollis
 * Common Raven / Northern Raven, Corvus corax
 * Chihuahuan Raven, Corvus cryptoleucus
 * Fan-tailed Raven, Corvus rhipidurus
 * Brown-necked Raven, Corvus ruficollis
 * Pied Crow, Corvus albus
 * Somali Crow, Corvus edithae

Clade VI
The Carrion and Hooded Crows are closely related and it is unclear as if they represent separate species. Haring et al. (2012) found that some of the eastern individuals were grouped with the Collared Crow, C. torquatus (sometimes called pectoralis).


 * American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
 * Northwestern Crow, Corvus caurinus
 * Collared Crow, Corvus torquatus
 * Carrion Crow, Corvus corone
 * Hooded Crow, Corvus cornix

Clade VII

 * Flores Crow, Corvus florensis (in between)

The Large-billed Crow complex is long been controversial, see Dickinson, et al. (2004).


 * House Crow, Corvus splendens
 * Mariana Crow, Corvus kubaryi
 * Large-billed Crow, Corvus macrorhynchos
 * Indian Jungle-Crow, Corvus culminatus
 * Eastern Jungle-Crow, Corvus levaillantii

Clade VIII

 * Slender-billed Crow, Corvus enca
 * Piping Crow, Corvus typicus
 * Banggai Crow, Corvus unicolor
 * Long-billed Crow, Corvus validus
 * New Caledonian Crow, Corvus moneduloides
 * Bougainville Crow, Corvus meeki
 * White-billed Crow, Corvus woodfordi
 * Violet Crow, Corvus violaceus
 * Brown-headed Crow, Corvus fuscicapillus
 * Grey Crow, Corvus tristis
 * Little Crow, Corvus bennetti
 * Bismarck Crow, Corvus insularis
 * Torresian Crow, Corvus orru
 * Australian Raven, Corvus coronoides
 * Little Raven, Corvus mellori
 * Forest Raven, Corvus tasmanicus

Prehistoric and fossilized species

 * New Ireland Crow, Corvus sp. (prehistoric)
 * Chatham Islands Raven, C. moriorum (prehistoric)
 * New Zealand Raven, C. antipodum (prehistoric)
 * High-billed Crow, C. impluviatus (prehistoric)
 * Robust Crow, C. viriosus (prehistoric)
 * Corvus larteti (fossil: Late Miocene of France, or C Europe?)
 * Corvus pliocaenus (fossil: Late Pliocene –? Early Pleistocene of SW Europe)
 * Corvus antecorax (fossil: Late Pliocene/Early – Late Pleistocene of Europe; may be subspecies of Corvus corax)
 * Corvus betfianus (fossil)
 * Corvus praecorax (fossil)
 * Corvus simionescui (fossil)
 * Corvus fossilis (fossil)
 * Corvus moravicus (fossil)
 * Corvus hungaricus (fossil)
 * Puerto Rican Crow C. or "chango" "mozambique" pumilis (prehistoric; possibly a subspecies of C. nasicus/palmarum)
 * Corvus galushai (fossil: Big Sandy Late Miocene of Wickieup, USA)
 * Corvus neomexicanus (fossil: Late Pleistocene of Dry Cave, USA)