Northern rockhopper penguin
| Northern rockhopper penguin | |
|---|---|
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| At Berlin Zoological Garden, Germany | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Sphenisciformes |
| Family: | Spheniscidae |
| Genus: | Eudyptes |
| Species: | E. moseleyi |
| Binomial name | |
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Eudyptes moseleyi (Mathews & Iredale, 1921) |
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Recent studies show the northern rockhopper penguin, Moseley's rockhopper penguin, or Moseley's penguin (Eudyptes moseleyi) distinct from the southern rockhopper penguin.
A study published in 2009 showed that the population of the northern rockhopper had declined by 90% since the 1950s. For this reason, the northern rockhopper penguin is classified as endangered.
The rockhopper penguins have been considered to consist of two species, northern and southern rockhopper penguin, since research published in 2006 demonstrated morphological, vocal, and genetic differences between the two populations.Molecular datings suggest that the genetic divergence with the southern rockhopper penguin may have been caused by a vicariant event caused by a shift in the position of the Subtropical Front during the mid-Pleistocene climate transition. Analysis of a part of a mitochondrial control region from a northern rockhopper penguin found on the Kerguelen Islands showed that it may have come from Gough Island, 6,000 km away, and that the southern and northern rockhoppers are genetically separate, though some individuals may disperse from their breeding colonies. Many taxonomists have yet to recognize the split, although some are beginning to do so.
More than 99% of northern rockhoppers breed on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island in the south Atlantic Ocean.
The rockhopper penguin was split into three distinct subspecies in 1992; the southern, (E. c. chrysocome), eastern (E. c. filholi) and northern rockhopper penguin (E. c. moseleyi). The three subspecies are distinguished by differences in the length of the tassels of the crests, the size and colour of the fleshy margin of the gape, colour pattern on the underside of the flipper and differences in the size of the supercilliary stripe in front of the eye. Additionally, the northern rockhopper penguin is larger than the other two subspecies. Proof that the three subspecies were truly different, in terms of more than reproductive isolation and some morphological features, was found in the mitochondrial sequences of the three species. It was found E. c. filholi and E. c. chrysocome were not as different genetically as E. c. moseleyi was to the other two subspecies. The level of genetic differentiation was similar to the genetic difference found in other penguin subspecies groups.
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