Macaroni Penguin - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Macaroni Penguin was described from the Falkland Islands in 1837 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt. It is one of six or so species in the genus Eudyptes, collectively known as crested penguins. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek words eu "good", and dyptes "diver". The specific epithet chrysolophus is derived from the Greek words chryse "golden", and lophos "crest".

The common name was recorded from the early 19th century in the Falkland Islands. English sailors apparently named the species for its conspicuous yellow crest; Maccaronism was a term for a particular style in 18th-century England marked by flamboyant or excessive ornamentation. A person who adopted this fashion was labelled a maccaroni or macaroni, as in the song "'Yankee Doodle".

Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests that the Macaroni Penguin split from its closest relative, the Royal Penguin (Eudyptes schlegeli), around 1.5 million years ago. Although the two have generally been considered separate species, the close similarities of their DNA sequences has led some, such as the Australian ornithologists Les Christidis and Walter Boles, to treat the Royal as a subspecies of the Macaroni. The two species are very similar in appearance, although the Royal Penguin has a white face instead of the usually black face of the Macaroni. Interbreeding with the Indopacific subspecies of the Southern Rockhopper Penguin (E. chrysocome filholi) has been reported at Heard and Marion Islands, with three hybrids recorded there by a 1987–88 Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition.