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NarrativeWikipediaarticle
Traits & measurements2 literature sources29 traits
Occurrence & distributionGBIF250 230 records
01Narrative
The Mexican jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi) Etymology: Aphelocoma, from Latinized Ancient Greek apheles- (from ἀφελής-) "simple" + Latin coma (from Greek kome κόμη) "hair", in reference to the lack of striped or banded feathers in this genus, compared to other jays. wollweberi, Name: "collector Mr. Wollweber". formerly known as the gray-breasted jay, is a New World jay native to the Sierra Madre Oriental, Sierra Madre Occidental, and Central Plateau of Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States. In May 2011, the American Ornithologists' Union voted to split the Mexican jay into two species, one retaining the common name Mexican jay and one called the Transvolcanic jay. The Mexican jay is a medium-sized jay with blue upper parts and pale gray underparts. It resembles the Woodhouse's scrub-jay, but has an unstreaked throat and breast. It feeds largely on acorns and pine nuts, but includes many other plant and animal foods in its diet. It has a cooperative breeding system where the parents are assisted by other birds to raise their young. This is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — AmnioteDB: 124 g · AVONET: 113 g
Body mass (female)112 g
Body mass (male)110 g
Hand-wing index18.4
Kipp's distance29.6 mm
SVL30 cm
Secondary length131 mm
Tail length129 mm
Tarsus length39.9 mm
Wing length161 mm
Life cycle & reproduction8
Egg mass7.9 g
Fledging age24.25 days
Fledging mass106 g
Incubation18 days
Litter size4.07
Litters per year1 /year
Max. longevity300 months
Neonate mass6 g
Diet & foraging2
Trophic levelomnivore
Trophic nicheOmnivore
Habitat & environment4
HabitatForest
Migration1.0
Primary lifestyleGeneralist
Range size484 129 km²
Other traits1
Interbirth interval365 days
07Deep time~7.02 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin7.02 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type250 230 records
Wild obs. + sensor249 797
Museum / vouchered433
Origin
Native28
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO17 384 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy83% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 696≤1 km 1 270≤10 km 561>10 km 266
4 793 georeferenced · 245 004 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor249 797
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy71% within 1 km
≤100 m 278≤1 km 10≤10 km 107>10 km 8
403 georeferenced · 30 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence433
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions16 of 26 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental Collegelocation not on record
129
Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record
63
Wuzhou, CN
38
South Kensington, GB
30
San Nicolás de los Garza, MX
23
Delaware Museum of Nature and Sciencelocation not on record
21
Ciudad de México, MX
19
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
13
University of California Los Angeleslocation not on record
13
Mexico City, MX
12
US
11
München, DE
10
Ann Arbor, US
10
Ithaca, US
9
St. Paul, US
5
Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record
4
Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica A. C.location not on record
3
Mexico City, MX
2
Cambridge, US
2
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
2
Albany, US
2
Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenadalocation not on record
2
Seattle, US
2
EL PASO, US
1
Chicago, US
1
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
1
26 institutions · 428 of 433 vouchered records shown · 5 without an institution code