Editing Gentoo penguin (section)

==Taxonomy==
The gentoo penguin is one of three species in the genus ''Pygoscelis''. [[Mitochondria]]l and [[Cell nucleus|nuclear]] [[DNA]] evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago (Mya), about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus ''[[Aptenodytes]]''. In turn, the Adélie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 Mya and the chinstrap and gentoo finally diverged around 14 Mya.<ref name="Baker AJ, Pereira SL, Haddrath OP, Edge KA 2006 11-17">{{cite journal |vauthors=Baker AJ, Pereira SL, Haddrath OP, Edge KA |year=2006|title=Multiple gene evidence for the expansion of extant penguins out of Antarctica due to global cooling |journal=Proc Biol Sci |volume=273 |issue=1582|pages=11–17|doi=10.1098/rspb.2005.3260 |pmid=16519228 |pmc=1560011}}</ref>

There are 4 [[subspecies]] recognized by the [[International Ornithologists' Union|International Ornithological Congress]]:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kagu, Sunbittern, tropicbirds, loons, penguins – IOC World Bird List |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/loons/ |access-date=2022-06-11 |language=en-US}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable "
|-
! Image !! Subspecies !! Distribution
|-
|[[File:2020-11 Kerguelen Islands - Gentoo penguin 11.jpg|120px]]|| ''P. p. taeniata'' ('''eastern gentoo penguin''') ([[Titian Peale|Peale]], 1849) || [[Crozet Islands]], [[Prince Edward Islands]], [[Kerguelen Islands]], [[Heard Island and McDonald Islands|Heard Island]], and [[Macquarie Island]]
|-
|[[File:Falkland Islands Penguins 05.jpg|120px]]||''P. p. papua'' ('''northern gentoo penguin''') ([[Johann Reinhold Forster|Forster]], 1781) || [[Falkland Islands]], Martillo Island in the [[Beagle Channel]], and [[Isla de los Estados]] ([[Argentina]])
|-
|[[File:Gentoo Penguin Baby (24940372635).jpg|120px]]|| ''P. p. ellsworthi'' ('''southern gentoo penguin''') [[Robert Cushman Murphy|Murphy]], 1947 || the [[Antarctic Peninsula]], the [[South Orkney Islands]], [[South Shetland Islands]] and [[South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands|South Sandwich Islands]]
|-
|[[File:Gentoo Penguin at Cooper Bay, South Georgia.jpg|120px]]|| ''P. p. poncetii'' ('''South Georgia gentoo penguin''') Tyler, Bonfitto, Clucas, Reddy & Younger, 2020 || [[South Georgia|South Georgia Island]]
|-
|}

Although the population on the [[Kerguelen Islands]] is tentatively included in ''taeniata'', it may also be a distinct subspecies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Subspecies Updates – IOC World Bird List |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/updates/subspecies-2/ |access-date=2022-06-11 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Before 2021, only two subspecies of the gentoo penguin had been recognised: ''P. p. papua'' (subantarctic gentoo) and the smaller ''P. p. ellsworthi'' (Antarctic gentoo).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=66969|access-date=2019-12-12|author=environment.gov.au|title=''Pygoscelis papua papua'' — Gentoo Penguin (subantarctic)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174447#null|access-date=2019-12-12|author=itis.gov|title=''Pygoscelis papua'' (J. R. Forster, 1781)}}</ref>  However, a 2020 study suggested that the gentoo penguin be split into a [[species complex]] of four morphologically similar but separate species: the northern gentoo penguin (''P. papua [[sensu]] stricto''), the southern gentoo penguin (''P. ellsworthi''), the eastern gentoo penguin (''P. taeniata'') and the newly described South Georgia gentoo penguin (''P. poncetii'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tyler|first1=Joshua|last2=Bonfitto|first2=Matthew T.|last3=Clucas|first3=Gemma V.|last4=Reddy|first4=Sushma|last5=Younger|first5=Jane L.|date=2020|title=Morphometric and genetic evidence for four species of gentoo penguin|url= |journal=Ecology and Evolution|language=en|volume=10|issue=24|pages=13836–13846|doi=10.1002/ece3.6973|pmid=33391684|issn=2045-7758|pmc=7771148|bibcode=2020EcoEv..1013836T }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pertierra|first1=Luis R.|last2=Segovia|first2=Nicolás I.|last3=Noll|first3=Daly|last4=Martinez|first4=Pablo A.|last5=Pliscoff|first5=Patricio|last6=Barbosa|first6=Andrés|last7=Aragón|first7=Pedro|last8=Rey|first8=Andrea Raya|last9=Pistorius|first9=Pierre|last10=Trathan|first10=Phil|last11=Polanowski|first11=Andrea|date=2020|title=Cryptic speciation in gentoo penguins is driven by geographic isolation and regional marine conditions: Unforeseen vulnerabilities to global change|journal=Diversity and Distributions|language=en|volume=26|issue=8|pages=958–975|doi=10.1111/ddi.13072|bibcode=2020DivDi..26..958P |issn=1472-4642|doi-access=free|hdl=11336/141106|hdl-access=free}}</ref> The International Ornithological Congress incorporated the results of this study in 2021, but relegated the newly recognized or newly described species to subspecies of ''P. papua''.<ref name=":0" />