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Penelope (bird)

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.

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 ==
Species
The genus contains 16 species. ==References==
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