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

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of the

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing from . Feathers of th ...

. 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 exactly 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 all ...

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

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

Otago Museum Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...

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

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

Burnside Mudstone rocks (34-40 MYA) at

Burnside, Dunedin Burnside is a mainly industrial suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located at the mouth of a long valley, the Kaikorai Valley, through which flows the Kaikorai Stream. This valley stretches to the northeast for . Burnside is to th ...

, in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. 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 nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

of this species honors

Brian J. Marples Brian John Marples FRSNZ (31 March 1907 – 1997) was a British zoologist who spent most of his career in New Zealand. Early years Marples was born in Hessle, Yorkshire, in north-eastern England. He was educated at Kingsmead in Cheshire, and St ...

, 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