Editing Corvidae (section)

==Systematics, taxonomy, and evolution==
The name Corvidae for the [[family (biology)|family]] was introduced by the English zoologist [[William Elford Leach]] in a guide to the contents of the [[British Museum]] published in 1820.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Leach | first=William Elford | author-link=William Elford Leach  | year=1820 | chapter=Eleventh Room | title= Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum | volume=17 | place=London | publisher=British Museum | edition=17th| pages=67–68 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/55257928 }} The name of the author is not specified in the document.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Bock | first=Walter J. | year=1994 | title=History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names | series=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume= 222 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | place=New York | pages=118, 222 | hdl=2246/830 }}<!--Linked page allows download of the 48MB pdf--></ref> Over the years, much disagreement has arisen on the exact evolutionary relationships of the corvid family and their relatives. What eventually seemed clear was that corvids are derived from [[Australasia]]n ancestors,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jønsson|first1=Knud A.|last2=Fabre|first2=Pierre-Henri|last3=Ricklefs|first3=Robert E.|last4=Fjeldså|first4=Jon|date=8 February 2011|title=Major global radiation of corvoid birds originated in the proto-Papuan archipelago|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=108|issue=6|pages=2328–2333|doi=10.1073/pnas.1018956108|issn=0027-8424|pmid=21262814|pmc=3038755|bibcode=2011PNAS..108.2328J|doi-access=free}}</ref> and spread throughout the world from there. Other lineages derived from these ancestors evolved into ecologically diverse, but often Australasian, groups. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, [[Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy|Sibley and Ahlquist]] united the corvids with other taxa in the [[Corvida]], based on [[DNA–DNA hybridization]]. The presumed corvid relatives included: [[currawong]]s, [[birds of paradise]], [[whipbird]]s, [[quail-thrush]]es, [[Pachycephalidae|whistlers]], [[monarch flycatcher]]s and [[drongo]]s, [[shrike]]s, [[vireo]]s, and [[vanga]]s,<ref name = robertson2000/> but current research favors the theory that this grouping is partly artificial. The corvids constitute the core group of the [[Corvoidea]], together with their closest relatives (the birds of paradise, [[Australian mud-nesters]], and shrikes). They are also the core group of the Corvida, which includes the related groups, such as [[Old World oriole]]s and vireos.<ref name = j&f2006/>

Clarification of the interrelationships of the corvids has been achieved based on [[cladistic]] analysis of several [[DNA sequence]]s.<ref name = j&f2006/><ref name=Ericson/> The jays and magpies do not constitute [[monophyletic]] lineages, but rather seem to split up into an [[Americas|American]] and [[Old World]] lineage, and an [[Holarctic]] and Oriental lineage, respectively. These are not closely related among each other. The position of the [[azure-winged magpie]], which has always been of undistinguished lineage, is less clear than previously thought.

The [[crested jayshrike]] (''Platylophus galericulatus'') is traditionally included in the Corvidae, but is not a true member of this family, being closer to the [[Prionops|helmetshrikes]] ([[Malaconotidae]]) or [[shrike]]s ([[Laniidae]]).<ref name=madge/><ref name=goodwin/> Likewise, the [[Hume's ground tit|Hume's ground "jay"]] (''Pseudopodoces humilis'') is, in fact, a member of the tit family, [[tit (bird)|Paridae]].<ref name=James/> The following tree showing the [[phylogeny]] of the crow family is based on a molecular study by Jenna McCullough and collaborators published in 2023.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=McCullough | first1=J.M. | last2=Hruska | first2=J.P. | last3=Oliveros | first3=C.H. | last4=Moyle | first4=R.G. | last5=Andersen | first5=M.J. | date=2023 | title=Ultraconserved elements support the elevation of a new avian family, Eurocephalidae, the white-crowned shrikes | journal=Ornithology | volume=140 | issue=3 | pages=ukad025 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukad025 | doi-access=free }}</ref>
{{clade | style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%
|label1='''Corvidae'''
|1={{Clade
   |1=''[[Pyrrhocorax]]'' – choughs (2 species)
   |2={{clade
   |label1=[[Crypsirininae]]
      |1={{clade
         |1={{clade
            |1=''[[Crypsirina]]'' – treepies (2 species)
            |2=''[[Dendrocitta]]'' – treepies (7 species)
            }}
         |2={{clade
            |1=''[[Temnurus]]'' – ratchet-tailed treepie
            |2=''[[Platysmurus]]'' – black magpies (2 species)
            }}
         }}
      |2={{clade
         |label1=[[Cissinae]]
         |1={{clade
            |1=''[[Cissa (bird)|Cissa]]'' – green magpies (4 species)
            |2=''[[Urocissa]]'' – blue magpies (5 species)
            }}
         |2={{clade
            |label1=[[Perisoreinae]]
            |1={{clade
               |1=''[[Cyanopica]]'' – magpies (2 species)
               |2=''[[Perisoreus]]'' – grey jays (3 species)
               }}
            |2={{clade
               |label1=[[Cyanocoracinae]]
               |1={{clade
                  |1=''[[Cyanolyca]]'' – jays (9 species)
                  |2={{clade
                     |1=''[[Cyanocorax]]'' – New World jays (20 species)
                     |2={{clade
                        |1=''[[Aphelocoma]]'' – jays and scrub jays (7 species)
                        |2={{clade
                           |1=''[[Gymnorhinus]]'' – pinyon jay
                           |2=''[[Cyanocitta]]'' – jays (2 species)
                           }}
                        }}
                     }}
                  }}
               |label2=[[Corvinae]]
               |2={{clade
                  |1={{clade
                     |1=''[[Garrulus]]'' – Old World jays (3 species)
                     |2={{clade
                        |1=''[[Ptilostomus]]'' – piapiac
                        |2={{clade
                           |1=''[[Zavattariornis]]'' – Stresemann's bushcrow
                           |2=''[[Podoces]]'' – ground jays (4 species)
                           }}
                        }}
                     }}
                  |2={{clade
                     |1=''[[Pica (genus)|Pica]]'' – magpies (7 species)
                     |2={{clade
                        |1=''[[Nucifraga]]'' – nutcrackers (4 species)
                        |label2=''[[Corvus]]'' sensu lato
                        |2={{clade
                           |1=''[[Coloeus]]'' – jackdaws (2 species) <span style="{{MirrorH}}">[[File:Eurasian jackdaw.png|50 px]]</span>
                           |2=''[[Corvus]]'' – crows, ravens, rook (50 species) <span style="{{MirrorH}}">[[File:Carrion crow.png|50 px]]</span>
                           }}
                        }}
                     }}
                  }}
               }}
            }}
         }}
      }}
   }}
}}

=== Fossil record ===
The earliest corvid [[fossil]]s date to mid-[[Miocene]] Europe,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Mourer-Chauviré | first1 = C. C. | title = Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe | journal = The Auk | volume = 121 | issue = 2 | page = 623 | year = 2004 | doi = 10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[0623:CBOTWP]2.0.CO;2 | s2cid = 86482094 }}</ref> about 17&nbsp;million years ago; ''[[Miocorvus]]'' and ''[[Miopica]]'' may be ancestral to crows and some of the magpie lineage, respectively, or similar to the living forms, due to [[convergent evolution]]. The known prehistoric corvid genera appear to be mainly of the New World and Old World jay and Holarctic magpie lineages:

* ''[[Miocorvus]]'' ([[Middle Miocene]] of [[Sansan, Gers]] in southwestern [[France]])<!-- Auk54:174;121:1155. Condor54:174. -->
* ''[[Miopica]]'' (Middle Miocene of SW Ukraine)
* ''[[Miocitta]]'' (Pawnee Creek Late Miocene of Logan County, US)
* Corvidae gen. et sp. indet. (Edson [[Early Pliocene]] of [[Sherman County, Kansas]], US)<ref>[[Anatomical terms of location#Proximal and distal|Proximal]] right [[coracoid]] of a jay-sized bird, perhaps an Holarctic magpie distinct from ''Pica'': {{cite journal |last=Wetmore |first=Alexander |title=The Eared Grebe and other Birds from the Pliocene of Kansas |journal=[[Condor (journal)|Condor]] |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=36–44 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v039n01/p0040-p0040.pdf | doi = 10.2307/1363487|jstor=1363487 |year=1937 }}</ref>
* ''[[Protocitta]]'' (Early Pleistocene of Reddick, US)
* Corvidae gen. et sp. indet. (Early/Middle Pleistocene of Sicily) – probably belongs in an extant genus<!-- IntGeolCongr32FieldTripGuideBookB07. -->
* ''[[Henocitta]]'' (Arredondo Clay Middle Pleistocene of Williston, US)

In addition, there are numerous fossil species of extant genera since the [[Miocene|Mio]]–[[Pliocene]], mainly European ''Corvus''.{{efn|See the genus accounts for more.}}