Penelope is a bird genus in the family Cracidae consisting of a number of large turkey-like arboreal species, the typical guans.

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.

In the case of several species the estimated populations are as low as a few 1000 mature birds, spread over a considerable area.

This genus seems to have originated as part of the southward expansion of guans through the Andes and across tropical South America.

These genera's ancestors apparently diverged some time during the Burdigalian, 20-15 Myr, but this is not corroborated by fossil evidence (Pereira et al. 2002).