Pygoscelis

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Brush-tailed penguins
Temporal range: Eocene to present
Pygoscelis antarctica
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Sphenisciformes
Family: Spheniscidae
Genus: Pygoscelis
Wagler, 1832
Type species
Aptenodytes antarctica[1]

Species

Pygoscelis adeliae

Pygoscelis antarctica

Pygoscelis papua

†Pygoscelis tyreei (fossil)
†Pygoscelis calderensis (fossil)
†Pygoscelis grandis (fossil)

The genus Pygoscelis ("rump-legged") contains three living species of penguins collectively known as "brush-tailed penguins".[2]

Taxonomy

Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago, about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus Aptenodytes. In turn, the Adelie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 million years ago.[3]

Extant species
Genus Pygoscelis – Wagler, 1832 – three species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Adélie penguin

Pygoscelis adeliae
(Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841) 		Antarctica, Bouvet Island
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Chinstrap penguin

Pygoscelis antarcticus
(Forster, 1781) 		Antarctica, Argentina, Bouvet Island, Chile, the Falkland Islands, the French Southern Territories, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Gentoo penguin

Pygoscelis papua
(Forster, 1781)

Four subspecies
  • P. p. taeniata (Peale, 1849)
  • P. p. papua (Forster, 1781)
  • P. p. ellsworthi Murphy, 1947
  • P. p. poncetii Tyler, Bonfitto, Clucas, Reddy & Younger, 2020
Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Kerguelen Islands
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



A 2020 study found that the gentoo penguin may actually comprise a species complex of 4 similar but genetically distinct species: the northern gentoo penguin (P. papua), the southern gentoo penguin (P. ellsworthi), the eastern gentoo penguin (P. taeniata), and the newly-described South Georgia gentoo penguin (P. poncetii).[4][5] However, in 2021 the International Ornithological Congress recognized these as being subspecies of P. papua.[6]

A study has estimated that there are about 3.79 million pairs of Adélie, 387,000 pairs of gentoo, and 8 million pairs of chinstrap penguins in their particular areas,[7] making up 90% of Antarctic avian biomass.[8]

Fossil species

The latter two are tentatively assigned to this genus.

References

  1. ^ Commentationes Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingensis 3 (1780): 134, 141, pl.4.
  2. ^ "Pygoscelis". www.pinguins.info. 2000. Archived from the original on 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  3. PMID 16519228
    .
  4. PMID 33391684
    .
  5. ISSN 1472-4642
    .
  6. ^ "Kagu, Sunbittern, tropicbirds, loons, penguins – IOC World Bird List". Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  7. S2CID 253810985
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-19-854667-2
    .
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