Preliminary genetic analysis of the genus using mitochondrial DNA showed the three raven species to belong to one lineage and the two crows to another, and that the two lineages are not closely related. The genetic separation between species is small and there was a suggestion the forest raven may be conspecific with the Australian raven. Subsequent multigene analysis using nuclear DNA by Jønsson and colleagues in 2012 clarified that the forest and little raven are each other's closest relative. The northern subspecies "boreus" turned out to be nested in the Tasmanian "tasmanicus", indicating the populations separated very recently. It is still recognised as a distinct subspecies by the International Ornithological Committee.