Biology:Pygoscelis

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The genus Pygoscelis ("rump-legged") contains four living species of penguins collectively known as "brush-tailed penguins".[1]

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.[2]

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).[3][4]

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)[5]

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).[6][7] However, in 2021 the International Ornithological Congress recognized these as being subspecies of P. papua.[8]

A 2026 study, based on the genome sequencing of ten colonies[9] proposes recognizing four species within Pygoscelis papua:

  • Pygoscelis papua in the Falkland Islands and South America;
  • Pygoscelis taeniata in several groups of subantarctic islands:
    • P. t. taeniata on Macquarie Island;
    • another undescribed subspecies on the Crozet Islands and Marion Island;
  • Pygoscelis ellsworthi with two subspecies:
    • P. e. ellsworthi on the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Orkney Islands, and the South Shetland Islands;
    • P. e. poncetii on South Georgia;
  • Pygoscelis kerguelensis on the Kerguelen Islands and Heard Island.


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.

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,[10] making up 90% of Antarctic avian biomass.[11]

Niche partitioning

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.[12] 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.[13][14]

Although all species feed almost entirely on Antarctic krill, there is niche partitioning between species.[14] Gentoos forage closest to shore and often dive much deeper to forage than Adelies and chinstraps.[12] Adelies forage furthest from shore.[15] Gentoos are also more willing to forage on fish,[12][14] 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.[12]

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.[12] 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.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Pygoscelis". 2000. http://www.pinguins.info/Engels/Pygoscelis_eng.html. Retrieved 2016-10-02. 
  2. ↑ "Multiple gene evidence for expansion of extant penguins out of Antarctica due to global cooling". Proc Biol Sci 273 (1582): 11–17. 2006. doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3260. PMID 16519228. 
  3. ↑ De Roy, Jones & Cornthwaite 2014, p. 204.
  4. ↑ Shirihai 2002, p. 64.
  5. ↑ "Pygoscelis papua (gentoo penguin)". http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pygoscelis_papua.html. 
  6. ↑ Tyler, Joshua; Bonfitto, Matthew T.; Clucas, Gemma V.; Reddy, Sushma; Younger, Jane L. (2020). "Morphometric and genetic evidence for four species of gentoo penguin" (in en). Ecology and Evolution 10 (24): 13836–13846. doi:10.1002/ece3.6973. ISSN 2045-7758. PMID 33391684. Bibcode: 2020EcoEv..1013836T. 
  7. ↑ Pertierra, Luis R.; Segovia, Nicolás I.; Noll, Daly; Martinez, Pablo A.; Pliscoff, Patricio; Barbosa, Andrés; Aragón, Pedro; Rey, Andrea Raya et al. (2020). "Cryptic speciation in gentoo penguins is driven by geographic isolation and regional marine conditions: Unforeseen vulnerabilities to global change" (in en). Diversity and Distributions 26 (8): 958–975. doi:10.1111/ddi.13072. ISSN 1472-4642. Bibcode: 2020DivDi..26..958P. 
  8. ↑ "Kagu, Sunbittern, tropicbirds, loons, penguins – IOC World Bird List" (in en-US). https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/loons/. 
  9. ↑ "Integrative evidence reveals adaptive divergence and speciation in gentoo penguins". Communications Biology (Nature Publishing Group) 9 (1). 23 April 2026. doi:10.1038/s42003-026-10081-7. ISSN 2399-3642. PMID 42026139. 
  10. ↑ Black, Caitlin E. (2016-03-01). "A comprehensive review of the phenology of Pygoscelis penguins" (in en). Polar Biology 39 (3): 405–432. doi:10.1007/s00300-015-1807-8. ISSN 1432-2056. Bibcode: 2016PoBio..39..405B. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1807-8. 
  11. ↑ Williams, Tony D. (1995). The penguins: Spheniscidae. Bird families of the world. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. pp. 137. ISBN 978-0-19-854667-2. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Trivelpiece, Wayne Z.; Trivelpiece, Susan G.; Volkman, Nicholas J. (1987). "Ecological Segregation of Adelie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap Penguins at King George Island, Antarctica" (in en). Ecology 68 (2): 351–361. doi:10.2307/1939266. ISSN 0012-9658. Bibcode: 1987Ecol...68..351T. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2307/1939266. 
  13. ↑ "Penguin responses to climate change in the Southern Ocean" (in en-US). https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/publication/penguin-responses-to-climate-change-in-the-southern-ocean/. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 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" (in en). Ecology and Evolution 8 (19): 9764–9778. doi:10.1002/ece3.4445. ISSN 2045-7758. PMID 30386573. Bibcode: 2018EcoEv...8.9764P. 
  15. ↑ 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." (in en). Marine Biology 141 (6): 1165–1174. doi:10.1007/s00227-002-0899-1. ISSN 1432-1793. Bibcode: 2002MarBi.141.1165L. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-002-0899-1. 

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