Pygoscelis

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.{{cite journal |vauthors=Baker AJ, Pereira SL, Haddrath OP, Edge KA |year=2006|title=Multiple gene evidence for expansion of extant penguins out of Antarctica due to global cooling |journal=Proc Biol Sci |volume=273 |issue=1582|pages=11–17|doi=10.1098/rspb.2005.3260|pmid=16519228 |pmc=1560011}}

;Extant species

{{Species table |genus=Pygoscelis |authority-name=Wagler|authority-year= 1832 |species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Adélie penguin|binomial=Pygoscelis adeliae

|image=File:Adelie Penguin.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Hombron & Jacquinot|authority-year= 1841|authority-not-original=yes

|range= Antarctica, Bouvet Island

|range-image=File:Pygoscelis adeliae Distribuzione.jpg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status=LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Chinstrap penguin|binomial=Pygoscelis antarcticus

|image=File:Chinstrap Penguin.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Forster|authority-year= 1781|authority-not-original=yes

|range= Antarctica, Argentina, Bouvet Island, Chile, the Falkland Islands, the French Southern Territories, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

|range-image=File:Pygoscelis antarcticus map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status=LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Gentoo penguin|binomial=Pygoscelis papua

|image=File:Gentoo Penguin at Cooper Bay, South Georgia.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Forster|authority-year= 1781|authority-not-original=yes

|range= Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Kerguelen Islands

|range-image=File:Gentoo penguin distribution.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status=LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Four subspecies |bullets=on

| P. p. taeniata (Peale, 1849)

| P. p. papua (Forster, 1781)

| P. p. ellsworthi Murphy, 1947

| P. p. poncetii Tyler, Bonfitto, Clucas, Reddy & Younger, 2020

}}

}}

{{Species table/end}}

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).{{Cite journal|last1=Tyler|first1=Joshua|last2=Bonfitto|first2=Matthew T.|last3=Clucas|first3=Gemma V.|last4=Reddy|first4=Sushma|last5=Younger|first5=Jane L.|date=2020|title=Morphometric and genetic evidence for four species of gentoo penguin|url= |journal=Ecology and Evolution|language=en|volume=10|issue=24|pages=13836–13846|doi=10.1002/ece3.6973|pmid=33391684 |issn=2045-7758|pmc=7771148|bibcode=2020EcoEv..1013836T }}{{Cite journal|last1=Pertierra|first1=Luis R.|last2=Segovia|first2=Nicolás I.|last3=Noll|first3=Daly|last4=Martinez|first4=Pablo A.|last5=Pliscoff|first5=Patricio|last6=Barbosa|first6=Andrés|last7=Aragón|first7=Pedro|last8=Rey|first8=Andrea Raya|last9=Pistorius|first9=Pierre|last10=Trathan|first10=Phil|last11=Polanowski|first11=Andrea|date=2020|title=Cryptic speciation in gentoo penguins is driven by geographic isolation and regional marine conditions: Unforeseen vulnerabilities to global change|journal=Diversity and Distributions|language=en|volume=26|issue=8|pages=958–975|doi=10.1111/ddi.13072|issn=1472-4642|doi-access=free|bibcode=2020DivDi..26..958P |hdl=11336/141106|hdl-access=free}} However, in 2021 the International Ornithological Congress recognized these as being subspecies of P. papua.{{Cite web |title=Kagu, Sunbittern, tropicbirds, loons, penguins – IOC World Bird List |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/loons/ |access-date=2022-06-11 |language=en-US}}

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,{{Cite journal|last=Black|first=Caitlin E.|date=2016-03-01|title=A comprehensive review of the phenology of Pygoscelis penguins|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1807-8|journal=Polar Biology|language=en|volume=39|issue=3|pages=405–432|doi=10.1007/s00300-015-1807-8|bibcode=2016PoBio..39..405B |s2cid=253810985 |issn=1432-2056|url-access=subscription}} making up 90% of Antarctic avian biomass.{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Tony D. |title=The penguins: Spheniscidae |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-854667-2 |series=Bird families of the world |location=Oxford |pages=137}}

;Fossil species

• Pygoscelis grandis (Bahía Inglesa Formation, Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Bahía Inglesa, Chile)
• Pygoscelis calderensis (Bahía Inglesa Formation, Late Miocene of Bahía Inglesa, Chile)
• Pygoscelis tyreei (Pliocene of New Zealand)

The latter two are tentatively assigned to this genus.

{{Reflist}}

{{Penguins}}

{{Austrodyptornithes|S.|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Bird genera

Category:Penguins