Editing Cyanocorax (section)

==Systematics and evolution==
With the merge of the formerly separate genera ''Calocitta'' (the two magpie-jays) and ''Psilorhinus'' (brown jay) into ''Cyanocorax'', the genus now contains around 20 species:<ref name = bonaccorsoetal2010>{{Cite journal |last1=Bonaccorso |first1=Elisa |last2=Peterson |first2=A. Townsend |last3=Navarro-Sigüenza |first3=Adolfo G. |last4=Fleischer |first4=Robert C. |title=Molecular systematics and evolution of the ''Cyanocorax'' jays |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |date=March 2010 |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=897–909 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2009.11.014 |pmid=19931623 |url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/6568/atp.mpe.molecular_systematics_and_evolution.2010.pdf;sequence=1 |access-date=10 February 2024|hdl=1808/6568 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>Chesser, R. T., et al. (2024). Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. ''Ornithology'' 141 (3): [https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/141/3/ukae019/7716004 1-21].</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/crows/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=18 September 2024 }}</ref>

The expanded genus ''Cyanocorax'' can be neatly divided into two [[clade]]s, the first containing the former ''Calocitta'' and ''Psilorhinus'', as well as the South American lineage which was historically treated as genus ''Uroleucus''. The other clade unites the remaining South American species with the group formerly separated as ''Cissilopha'', as well as the [[Inca jay]] group which are the only members of the genus to have conspicuous [[carotenoid]] (yellow/green) pigments in their plumage;<ref name = bonaccorsoetal2010 /> some ornithologists treat the two taxa of the Inca jay group as [[conspecific]],<ref name=hbw>{{cite web | last=dos Anjos| first=L. | year=2018 | title=Green Jay (''Cyanocorax yncas'') | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=http://www.hbw.com/node/55804 | access-date=16 May 2018 |url-access=subscription  }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last1=Dickinson | editor-first1=E.C. | editor1-link=Edward C. Dickinson  | editor-last2=Christidis | editor-first2=L. | editor2-link=Leslie Christidis | year=2014 | title=The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World | volume=2: Passerines | edition=4th | place=Eastbourne, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-2-2 | pages=240–241 }}</ref> though there is deep genetic divergence between the two taxa as well as differences in their plumage, habitat, behaviour, and calls.<ref name = bonaccorsoetal2010 />

The origin of the genus seems to be the [[Isthmus of Panama]] region or the northern [[Andes]]. An initial split resulted on one hand in a triple radiation along the Caribbean (''Psilorhinus'') and Pacific (''Calocitta'') coasts of Central America, as well as into South America (''Uroleuca''). Concurrently, the ancestors of the [[White-tailed jay]] became separated west of the northern Andes, on the Pacific coast of northwestern South America, while the ''Xanthoura'' radiation expanded along the foothills of the main Andes chain and adjacent mountain ranges, as well as into the Central American lowlands. From the same stock as the preceding two, a second multi-pronged radiation expanded into Central America (the former ''Cissilopha'' species) as well as into South America (in two branches, a northern and a southeastwards one). The [[Tufted jay]], the northwesternmost member of this genus, seems to be a distinct fourth and ancient branch of this radiation, perhaps a remnant of an early expansion that largely went extinct as the ''Cissilopha'' lineage displaced it.<ref name = bonaccorsoetal2010 />

===Species===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Scientific name !! Common Name !! Distribution
|-
|''C.formosus'' group (''Calocitta''): Pacific Central America
|-
|[[File:Black-throated magpie-jay (16118421149).jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax colliei'' || [[Black-throated magpie-jay]]  || west Mexico
|-
|[[File:White-throated magpie-jay (Calocitta formosa pompata) Copan 3.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax formosus'' || [[White-throated magpie-jay]]  ||  southwest Mexico to Costa Rica
|-
|''C.morio'' lineage (''Psilorhinus''): Caribbean Central America
|-
|[[File:Brown Jay, Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica 1.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax morio'' || [[Brown jay]]  || widespread in eastern Mexico and Central America, also in south Texas
|-
|''C.cyanomelas'' group (''Uroleuca''): South America
|-
|[[File:Gralha Azul no Parque Nacional de Aparados da Serra.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax caeruleus''<br/>(tentatively placed in this group<ref name = bonaccorsoetal2010 />) || [[Azure jay]]  || southeastern Brazil (São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul), far eastern Paraguay and far north-eastern Argentina
|-
|[[File:Cyanocorax violaceus.jpg|120px]] ||''Cyanocorax violaceus''<br/>([[paraphyletic]]?<ref name = bonaccorsoetal2010 />) || [[Violaceous jay]]  || Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela
|-
|[[File:Purplish Jay (Cyanocorax cyanomelas) (28374089735).jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax cyanomelas'' || [[Purplish jay]] || northern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and southeastern Peru
|-
|[[File:Gralha do campo.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax cristatellus'' || [[Curl-crested jay]]  || northeastern Brazil
|-
|''C.yncas'' group (''Xanthoura''): lowland Central and upland South America
|-
|[[File:Green jay hugh ramsey park 4.2.23 DSC 8388-topaz-denoiseraw.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax luxuosus'' || [[Green jay]]  || southern Texas to Honduras
|-
|[[File:Inca Jay, Querrequerre (Cyanocorax yncas).jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax yncas'' || [[Inca jay]]  || Andes Mts from Colombia and Venezuela through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia
|-
|''C.mystacalis'' lineage: northwest (Pacific) South America
|-
|[[File:White-tailedJay.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax mystacalis'' || [[White-tailed jay]]  || Ecuador and Peru
|-
|''C.beecheii'' group  (''Cissilopha''):  Central America
|-
|[[File:Bushy-crested Jay 2496235716.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax melanocyaneus'' || [[Bushy-crested jay]]  || Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua
|-
|[[File:Yucatan Jay Adult.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax yucatanicus'' ||[[Yucatan jay]] || Yucatán Peninsula 
|-
|[[File:Cyanocorax beecheii in tree december 2017.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax beecheii'' || [[Purplish-backed jay]]  || northwestern Mexico
|-
|[[File:San Blas Jay.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax sanblasianus'' || [[San Blas jay]]  ||  Mexico 
|-
|''C.dickeyi'' lineage: Pacific Mexico
|-
|[[File:Chara pinta - Tufted jay (Cyanocorax dickeyi).jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax dickeyi'' || [[Tufted jay]] ||[[Sierra Madre Occidental]] of Sinaloa and Durango in Mexico
|-
|''C.affinis'' group:  northern (Caribbean) South America
|-
|[[File:Cyanocorax affinis.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax affinis'' || [[Black-chested jay]]  || Colombia, northwestern Venezuela, Panama and far eastern Costa Rica
|-
|[[File:Azure-naped_Jay.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax heilprini'' <br>(includes [[Campina jay]] ''C.'' [''heilprini''] ''hafferi'', treated as a separate species by some authors<ref>{{cite book |last1=del Hoyo |first1=J (Ed.) |title=All the birds of the world |date=2020 |publisher=Lynx Edicions |location=Barcelona |isbn=978-84-16728-37-4 |page=561}}</ref>)|| [[Azure-naped jay]]  || Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela
|-
|''C.cayanus'' group:  eastern (Atlantic) South America
|-
|[[File:Cayenne Jay (Cyanocorax cayanus) (cropped).jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax cayanus'' || [[Cayenne jay]]  ||  Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela
|-
|[[File:Cyanocorax chrysops 001 1280.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax chrysops'' || [[Plush-crested jay]]  ||  southwestern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina
|-
|[[File:Cyanocorax cyanopogon -Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil-8.jpg|120px]] || ''Cyanocorax cyanopogon''|| [[White-naped jay]] ||  Brazil 
|-
|}

The [[fossil]] corvid ''[[Protocitta]] dixi'', described from [[Middle Pleistocene]] ([[Illinoian]], [[Penultimate Glacial Period]], roughly 150.000 years ago) remains found in a former cave near [[Reddick, Florida]], was described as similar to both ''Calocitta'' and ''Psilorhinus'' lineages. Although no [[cladistic]] analysis was conducted, at least qualitatively it was assessed as less closely related to the Holarctic magpies, who are a member of the "[[monochrome]]" radiation of crows and ravens, so it is very likely that ''Protocitta'' was indeed a prehistoric American blue jay. No ''Cyanocorax'' is attested from anywhere near Florida however, and since ''Protocitta'' was not compared to the North American radiation of blue jays,<ref>Brodkorb, Pierce (1957): New Passerine Birds from the Pleistocene of Reddick, Florida. ''Journal of Paleontology'' '''31'''(1): 129-138.</ref> it is at least as likely to belong with the latter group.