Pygoscelis

Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:Automatic taxobox The genus Pygoscelis ("rump-legged") contains three living species of penguins collectively known as "brush-tailed penguins".

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.

Extant species

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). However, in 2021 the International Ornithological Congress recognized these as being subspecies of P. papua.

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, making up 90% of Antarctic avian biomass.

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.