Southern Rockhopper Penguin - Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy and Systematics

The Rockhopper Penguin complex is confusing. Many taxonomists consider all three Rockhopper Penguin forms subspecies. Some split the Northern subspecies (moseleyi) from the Southern forms (chrysocome and filholi). Still others consider all three distinct. The subspecies recognized for the Southern Rockhopper Penguin complex are:

• Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome, the Western Rockhopper Penguin or American Southern Rockhopper Penguin - breeds around the southern tip of South America
• Eudyptes chrysocome filholi, the Eastern Rockhopper Penguin or Indopacific Southern Rockhopper Penguin - breeds on subantarctic islands of the Indian and western Pacific oceans.

The Northern Rockhopper Penguin lives in a different water mass than the Western and Eastern Rockhopper Penguins, separated by the Subtropical Front, and they are genetically different. Therefore, northern birds are sometimes separated as E. moseleyi. The rockhopper penguins are closely related to the Macaroni Penguin (E. chrysolophus) and the Royal Penguin (E. schlegeli), which may just be a colour morph of the Macaroni Penguin.

Interbreeding with the Macaroni Penguin has been reported at Heard and Marion Islands, with three hybrids recorded there by a 1987-88 Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition.