Crows (Corvidae)

Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas) - HBW 14, p. 585

French: Geai vert German: Inkablaurabe Spanish: Chara Verde
Other common names: Inca Jay ("nominate group")

Taxonomy: Corvus yncas Boddaert, 1783, Chilpes, Junín, Peru.
Formerly placed in a monotypic genus, Xanthoura. Races fall into two groups, one in Central America (first eight listed below), known as the "luxuosus group", and the other in Andes of South America (remaining five races), known as "nominate group"; the groups are sometimes treated as two separate species. Race luxuosus intergrades with vividus in SE Sierra de Tuxtla and Catemaco region of S Veracruz. Proposed race andicolus (Andes of Mérida, Venezuela) subsumed into cyanodorsalis. Thirteen subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

glaucescens ( Ridgway, 1900) - extreme S USA (S Texas) and NE Mexico (W Tamaulipas and Nuevo León).
luxuosus ( Lesson, 1839) - extreme S USA (lower Rio Grande valley and SE corner of Texas) S through E & SC Mexico (S to Puebla and S Veracruz).
speciosus ( Nelson, 1900) - Pacific slope of Mexico in Nayarit and Jalisco.

See all 13 subspecies

glaucescens ( Ridgway, 1900) - extreme S USA (S Texas) and NE Mexico (W Tamaulipas and Nuevo León).
luxuosus ( Lesson, 1839) - extreme S USA (lower Rio Grande valley and SE corner of Texas) S through E & SC Mexico (S to Puebla and S Veracruz).
speciosus ( Nelson, 1900) - Pacific slope of Mexico in Nayarit and Jalisco.
vividus ( Ridgway, 1900) - Pacific slope of S Mexico (from Colima and Guerrero E to W Guatemala (Solola, in Patulul).
maya ( van Rossem, 1934) - Tabasco and Yucatán Peninsula (except extreme S Quintana Roo), in E Mexico.
cozumelae ( van Rossem, 1934) - Cozumel I (off NE Yucatán Peninsula).
centralis ( van Rossem, 1934) - SE Mexico (extreme E Tabasco and adjacent parts of Chiapas E through extreme S Quintana Roo), N & E Guatemala, Belize and N Honduras.
confusus A. R. Phillips, 1966 - Pacific slope of S Chiapas (Mexico) and Guatemala.
galeatus ( Ridgway, 1900) - subtropical zone of Colombia W of E Andes.
cyanodorsalis ( A. J. C. Dubois, 1874) - C & E Colombia (subtropical zone of E Andes) and NW Venezuela (Zulia, and S Lara S to Táchira and Barinas).
guatimalensis ( Bonaparte, 1850) - mountains of N Venezuela (Falcón E to Sucre and Anzoátegui.
yncas ( Boddaert, 1783) - SW Colombia (subtropical zone, in valleys of upper Cauca, Patía, and San Miguel) S through E Ecuador and Peru to C Bolivia (La Paz and Cochabamba).
longirostris ( Carriker, 1933) - arid upper valley of R Marañón, in N Peru.