Largest genus of penguins

The largest penguin genus is Eudyptes, which contains between seven and nine species (depending upon the views of different taxonomists). They are known collectively as the crested penguins, on account of their distinctive, often golden-coloured crest. They include the familiar rockhopper penguins and the macaroni penguin (the world's commonest penguin species), and occur on various subantarctic and antarctic islands. One species of crested penguin, the Chatham Island penguin E. chathamensis, is now extinct, and the royal penguin E. schlegelii is sometimes categorized merely as a subspecies of the macaroni penguin E. chrysolophus. The three rockhopper species were once deemed to be subspecies of a single species, but DNA studies have confirmed their separate specific status.