Marples' penguin (''Palaeeudyptes marplesi'') was a large

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of the

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Palaeeudyptes ''Palaeeudyptes'' is an extinct genus of large penguins, currently containing four accepted species. They were probably larger than almost all living penguins, with the smaller species being about the size of an emperor penguin, and the largest s ...

''. It stood between high in life, larger than the present

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...

. The precise relationship between this species and the slightly smaller narrow-flippered penguin (''Palaeeudyptes antarcticus'') from somewhat younger rocks is not resolved; possibly, ''P. marplesi'' is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of ''P. antarcticus''. This species is known from a partial skeleton, mainly leg bones (

Otago Museum Otago (, ; ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government region. Its po ...

C.50.25 to C.50.45), recovered from Middle or Late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Burnside Mudstone rocks (34-40 MYA) at Burnside, Dunedin, in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Many other bones are often assigned to this species. However, as most of them are only roughly dated and intermediate in size between this species and ''P. antarcticus'', they should not be referred to either taxon pending a comprehensive review of the New Zealand material of ''Palaeeudyptes'' (which will probably result in recognizing that ''P. marplesi'' was a larger progenitor species or subspecies of ''P. antarcticus''). The

binomen In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

of this species honors Brian J. Marples, one of the foremost researchers of fossil penguins in the 20th century.

References

* Brodkorb, Pierce (1963): "Catalogue of Fossil Birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes Through Ardeiformes)". ''Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences'' 7(4): 179–293
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* Simpson, George Gaylord (1971): "A review of the Pre-Pleistocene Penguins of New Zealand". ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 144: 319–378
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{{Clear marplesi Eocene birds Extinct penguins Cenozoic animals of Oceania Extinct birds of New Zealand