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The macaroni penguin (''Eudyptes chrysolophus'') is a species of penguin found from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. One of six species of crested penguin, it is very closely related to the royal penguin, and some authorities consider the two to be a single species. It bears a distinctive yellow crest, and the face and upperparts are black and sharply delineated from the white underparts. Adults weigh on average and are in length. The male and female are similar in appearance, although the male is slightly larger and stronger with a relatively larger bill. Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine lifestyle. They also have red eyes. Its diet consists of a variety of crustaceans, mainly krill, as well as small fish and cephalopods; the species consumes more marine life annually than any other species of seabird. These birds moult once a year, spending about three to four weeks ashore, before returning to the sea. Numbering up to 100,000 individuals, the breeding colonies of the macaroni penguin are among the largest and densest of all penguin species. After spending the summer breeding, penguins disperse into the oceans for six months; a 2009 study found that macaroni penguins from Kerguelen travelled over in the central Indian Ocean. With about 18 million individuals, the macaroni penguin is the most numerous penguin species. However, widespread declines in populations have been recorded since the mid-1970s. Their conservation status is being reclassified as vulnerable. ==Taxonomy== The macaroni penguin was described from the Falkland Islands in 1837 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt.〔Williams (1995) p. 211〕 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". Molecular clock evidence using DNA suggests 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.〔Williams (1995) p. 214〕 Interbreeding with the Indo-Pacific 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「macaroni penguin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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