| Hispaniolan palm crow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustration | |
 | |
| In Dominican Republic | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Corvidae |
| Genus: | Corvus |
| Species: | C. palmarum |
| Binomial name | |
| Corvus palmarum Württemberg, 1835 | |
 | |
TheHispaniolan palm crow (Corvus palmarum) is a relatively smallcorvidendemic to theCaribbean island ofHispaniola (inHaiti and theDominican Republic) where it was formerly common but is now reduced in population.
The Hispaniolan palm crow wasformally described in 1835 under thebinomial nameCorvus palmarum by the German naturalistDuke Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg.[2] The species ismonotypic: nosubspecies are recognised.[3] This crow was formerly considered to beconspecific with theCuban palm crow (Corvus minutus).[3][4][5]
Despite beingsympatric with thewhite-necked crow (Corvus leucognaphalus) on Hispaniola, it appears to be more closely related to thefish crow (C. ossifragus) of theEast Coast of the United States, as well as two smaller species, theTamaulipas crow (C. imparatus) andSinaloan crow (C. sinaloae) ofMexico, than the white-necked crow, which is more related to theCuban crow (Corvus nasicus) and theJamaican crow (Corvus jamaicensis), the other two Caribbean corvids. This indicates two distinct arrivals of crows onto the island (with the ancestor of the two palm crows being a later arrival), and a resultingniche differentiation, similar toC. nasicus andC. minutus onCuba.
The following cladogram is based on phylogenetic study of the Corvidae by Knud Jønsson and collaborators that was published in 2012.[6]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
The local name for the palm crow iscao in the Dominican Republic (where it is locally common, mainly inmountain pine forests and also around the area ofLake Enriquillo), which is onomatopoeic of the simple and repetitive call of this bird.
