2 recently-extinct penguin taxa from the Chatham Islands

[Michael Szabo]

A new genetic study has described two previously unknown, recently extinct penguin taxa from the Chatham Islands: Warham's Penguin (Eudyptes warhami) and a dwarf subspecies of the Yellow-eyed Penguin, Megadyptes antipodes richdalei.

Link to abstract: https://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-ar ... m=fulltext

[Ian Southey]

The crested penguin has been known for some time but the Yellow-eyed Penguin is a surprise. I can't find the paper but here's a little bit more

https://fossilpenguins.wordpress.com/20 ... n-species/

https://fossilpenguins.wordpress.com/20 ... -penguins/

Ian

[Michael Szabo]

The authors also describe their research findings here: https://sciblogs.co.nz/guestwork/2019/0 ... evolution/

[Ian Southey]

It looks like there's another undescribed crested penguin from the main islands of New Zealand. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30367976
Only an abstract available but, from what I can see in the tiny figure it looks like it was spread from Bank's Peninsula to Cook Strait. No idea what it is related too.

Ian

[Alan Tennyson]

Hi Ian
That 'extra undescribed crested penguin from the main islands of NZ' is actually the Chatham species, just described, but the 2nd paper that you refer to came out before the other one that actually names it. It seems that the extinct Chatham crested penguin used to range to the east coast of mainland NZ, which isn't that surprising.
cheers
Alan