Gregory Mathews described the forest raven as a distinct subspecies—"Corvus marianae tasmanicus"—of the Australian raven in 1912, its species name derived from Tasmania, the type locality. Rowley raised the forest raven to species rank in 1970, noting there were no intermediate forms between it and the little raven (its closest relative) and that it was clearly larger with a much more massive bill. He described a second subspecies—"Corvus tasmanicus boreus"—the same year, observing that "C. tasmanicus" from Tasmania and southern Victoria has a very short tail compared with individuals from the northern New South Wales population. Rowley gave the species name forest raven in 1970. The term "crow" is colloquially applied to any or all species of Australian corvid.