Penelope is a bird genus in the family Cracidae consisting of a number of large turkey-like arboreal species, the typical guans. The range of these species is in forests from southern Mexico to tropical South America. These large birds have predominantly brown plumage and have relatively small heads when compared to the size of their bodies; they also bear a characteristic dewlap. Body lengths are typically 65 to 95 centimeters.
Most of the genus members have a typically raucous honking call. A number of the genus members are endangered species and at least one is critically endangered, usually due to tropical deforestation and hunting. In the case of several species the estimated populations are as low as a few 1000 mature birds, spread over a considerable area. Because of the scarcity of many of the genus members and also due to the habitat being often in deep or high altitude forests, little is known about some of the species habits and reproduction; in fact, some species are found at altitudes up to 3350 meters. Nests are typically built of twigs in trees.
Taxonomy The genus Penelope was introduced in 1776 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem who listed two species in the genus but did not specify the type. The type was designated in 1828 by René Lesson as Penepole marail Gmelin, JF, 1788. This is a junior synonym of Phaisianus marail Müller, PLS, 1776, the marail guan. The genus name is from Greek mythology: Penelope was daughter of the Spartan king Icarius and wife of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca.
This genus seems to have originated as part of the southward expansion of guans through the Andes and across tropical South America. Its closest relatives are probably the piping-guans, Aburria. These genera's ancestors apparently diverged some time during the Burdigalian, 20-15 Myr, but this is not corroborated by fossil evidence.
Species The genus contains 16 species. Image Common name Scientific name Distribution White-winged guan Penelope albipennis Lambayeque, Cajamarca and Piura, north-west Peru Band-tailed guan Penelope argyrotis Colombia and Venezuela Bearded guan Penelope barbata Ecuador and PeruYungas guanPenelope bridgesieast slope of the Andes from Bolivia to northwestern Argentina Red-faced guan Penelope dabbeneinorthern Argentina and in the southern border region of Bolivia Spix's guan Penelope jacquacuBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela White-browed guan Penelope jacucacaCaatinga in north-eastern Brazil. Marail guan Penelope marailBrazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Andean guan Penelope montagnii Risaralda Department of Colombia, and the Yanacocha Reserve of Ecuador. Dusky-legged guan Penelope obscuraUruguay, northeastern Argentina and southernmost areas of Paraguay and Brazil; Chestnut-bellied guan Penelope ochrogaster Brazil. Baudo guan Penelope ortoniwestern Colombia and north-western Ecuador Cauca guan Penelope perspicax Colombia White-crested guan Penelope pileata eastern Amazon basin of Brazil Crested guan Penelope purpurascenssouth Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula to western Ecuador and southern Venezuela Rusty-margined guan Penelope superciliaris eastern Paraguay with extreme northeast Argentina, and eastern Bolivia in the Pantanal
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