Wikipedia

Pygoscelis

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

Brush-tailed penguins
Temporal range: Eocene to present
Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
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)

Taxonomy

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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: 70–73 cm (28–29 in) in length and a weight of 3.8 to 8.2 kg (8.4 to 18.1 lb).[4][5]

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: 68–76 cm (27–30 in) in length and a weight of 3.2–5.3 kg (7.1–11.7 lb)

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: length of 70 to 90 cm (28 to 35 in), with weight of 4.5–8.5 kg (9.9–18.7 lb)[6]

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).[7][8] However, in 2021 the International Ornithological Congress recognized these as being subspecies of P. papua.[9]

A 2026 study, based on the genome sequencing of ten colonies[10] proposes recognizing four species within Pygoscelis papua:


Fossil species

The latter two are tentatively assigned to this genus.

Ecology

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Adelie (front) and gentoo (back), near the Weddell Sea

A study has estimated that there are about 8 million pairs of chinstrap, 3.79 million pairs of Adélie, and 387,000 pairs of gentoo penguins in their particular areas,[11] making up 90% of Antarctic avian biomass.[12]

Niche partitioning

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A chinstrap amidst gentoos, at King George Island

While the three species in this genus overlap in range, Adelies can breed further south in the continental Antarctic, gentoos further north, and chinstraps intermediate between the two.[13] Gentoos and chinstraps are less ice-tolerant than Adelies; consequentially, warming climates are causing the range of gentoos and chinstraps to expand southward and the range of Adelies to shrink.[14][15]

Although all species feed almost entirely on Antarctic krill, there is niche partitioning between species.[15] Gentoos forage closest to shore and often dive much deeper to forage than Adelies and chinstraps.[13] Adelies forage furthest from shore.[16] Gentoos are also more willing to forage on fish,[13][15] perhaps due to their deeper dives which expose them to bottom-dwelling fish. Unlike their congeners, gentoos can dive as deep as the deepest krill swarms, allowing them to feed on any swarm they locate.[13]

Gentoo chicks take much longer to mature and grow much slower than chinstraps and Adelies, and require twice as much food to mature than either congener. Gentoo parents return much more frequently to feed chicks than congeners. However, by the time gentoo chicks fledge, they are often heavier than adults, while chinstrap and Adelie fledglings do not approach adult weight.[13] The three species also begin breeding at different times. Where the three species overlap, only Adelie chicks migrate to pack ice when fledging, where they spend up to 5 years exploiting the pack ice zone's richer krill supply.[13]

References

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  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. ↑ Baker AJ, Pereira SL, Haddrath OP, Edge KA (2006). "Multiple gene evidence for expansion of extant penguins out of Antarctica due to global cooling". Proc Biol Sci. 273 (1582): 11–17. doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3260. PMC 1560011. PMID 16519228.
  4. ↑ De Roy, Jones & Cornthwaite 2014, p. 204.
  5. ↑ Shirihai 2002, p. 64.
  6. ↑ "Pygoscelis papua (gentoo penguin)". Animal Diversity Web.
  7. ↑ Tyler, Joshua; Bonfitto, Matthew T.; Clucas, Gemma V.; Reddy, Sushma; Younger, Jane L. (2020). "Morphometric and genetic evidence for four species of gentoo penguin". Ecology and Evolution. 10 (24): 13836–13846. Bibcode:2020EcoEv..1013836T. doi:10.1002/ece3.6973. ISSN 2045-7758. PMC 7771148. PMID 33391684.
  8. ↑ Pertierra, Luis R.; Segovia, Nicolás I.; Noll, Daly; Martinez, Pablo A.; Pliscoff, Patricio; Barbosa, Andrés; Aragón, Pedro; Rey, Andrea Raya; Pistorius, Pierre; Trathan, Phil; Polanowski, Andrea (2020). "Cryptic speciation in gentoo penguins is driven by geographic isolation and regional marine conditions: Unforeseen vulnerabilities to global change". Diversity and Distributions. 26 (8): 958–975. Bibcode:2020DivDi..26..958P. doi:10.1111/ddi.13072. hdl:11336/141106. ISSN 1472-4642.
  9. ↑ "Kagu, Sunbittern, tropicbirds, loons, penguins – IOC World Bird List". Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  10. ↑ Noll, D., Younger, J., Pertierra, L. R., Greve, M., Pizarro, E. J., León, F., Brandt, D. Y. C., Tyler, J., Clucas, G., Levy, H., Simison, W. B., McInnes, J., Pistorius, P., Le Bohec, C., Bonadonna, F., Trathan, P. N., Barbosa, A., Raya Rey, A., Dantas, G. P. M., Bowie, R. C. K., Poulin, E., Vianna, J. A. (23 April 2026). "Integrative evidence reveals adaptive divergence and speciation in gentoo penguins". Communications Biology. Nature Publishing Group. doi:10.1038/s42003-026-10081-7. ISSN 2399-3642. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  11. ↑ Black, Caitlin E. (2016-03-01). "A comprehensive review of the phenology of Pygoscelis penguins". Polar Biology. 39 (3): 405–432. Bibcode:2016PoBio..39..405B. doi:10.1007/s00300-015-1807-8. ISSN 1432-2056. S2CID 253810985.
  12. ↑ Williams, Tony D. (1995). The penguins: Spheniscidae. Bird families of the world. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-19-854667-2.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Trivelpiece, Wayne Z.; Trivelpiece, Susan G.; Volkman, Nicholas J. (1987). "Ecological Segregation of Adelie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap Penguins at King George Island, Antarctica". Ecology. 68 (2): 351–361. doi:10.2307/1939266. ISSN 0012-9658.
  14. ↑ "Penguin responses to climate change in the Southern Ocean". British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 2026-04-12.
  15. 1 2 3 Pickett, Erin P.; Fraser, William R.; Patterson‐Fraser, Donna L.; Cimino, Megan A.; Torres, Leigh G.; Friedlaender, Ari S. (2018). "Spatial niche partitioning may promote coexistence of Pygoscelis penguins as climate‐induced sympatry occurs". Ecology and Evolution. 8 (19): 9764–9778. doi:10.1002/ece3.4445. ISSN 2045-7758. PMC 6202752. PMID 30386573.
  16. ↑ Lynnes, A.; Reid, K.; Croxall, J.; Trathan, P. (2002-12-01). "Conflict or co-existence? Foraging distribution and competition for prey between Adélie and chinstrap penguins". Marine Biology. 141 (6): 1165–1174. doi:10.1007/s00227-002-0899-1. ISSN 1432-1793.
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