Eudyptes warhami

Last updated

Eudyptes warhami
Temporal range: Late Holocene
Murtha Penguin sm 800.jpg
Reconstruction by Sean Murtha
Status NZTCS EX.svg
Extinct  (1650–1700) (NZ TCS) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Sphenisciformes
Family: Spheniscidae
Genus: Eudyptes
Species:
†E. warhami
Binomial name
†Eudyptes warhami
Cole, Tennyson, Ksepka & Thomas, 2019 [2]

The Chatham penguin (Eudyptes warhami), also known as the Chatham crested penguin, Chatham Islands penguin, or Warham's penguin, is an extinct species of crested penguin previously endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. It is known only from subfossil bones and probably became extinct within 150–200 years after Polynesians arrived in the Chatham Islands around 1500 CE. [3]

Contents

Discovery and description

Bones of crested penguins (genus Eudyptes ) have been recorded from subfossil deposits on main Chatham Island for years. They had been identified as Fiordland or erect-crested penguins, but Tennyson and Millener noted in 1994 they differed from both those species, and probably represented a species of crested penguin endemic to the Chathams. [4] It was referred to as the "Chatham Island crested penguin", but not formally described and named. [5]

As part of a study of the recent evolution of numerous penguin species, subfossil bones from Chatham Island and the mainland had mitochondrial DNA fully extracted, sequenced, and compared to other species of Eudyptes. The Chatham bones differed sufficiently in their DNA to support the penguin's identity as a truly distinct species, and it was formally described in 2019 and named E. warhami, after John Warham, a pioneering researcher in penguin biology. [2] Based on a comparison of mitochondrial genomes, this species diverged from its closest relative, the erect-crested penguin of the Antipodes Islands, between 1.1 and 2.5 million years ago. This corresponds to the emergence of the Chatham Islands from the sea about 3 million years ago. [2]

Range

The Chatham penguin was endemic to the Chatham Islands. [2]

Bones of the Chatham penguin have been identified from various subfossil and archaeological sites on mainland New Zealand, including the Wairarapa, Banks Peninsula, Marlborough, and Paekākāriki areas. [2] These likely represent stray birds from the Chatham islands arriving on the mainland, not breeding populations. Similarly, the erect-crested penguin was among the subfossil Eudyptes bones from the Chatham Islands, which also likely represent strays. [2]

Extinction

The Chatham Islands were settled by Polynesians around 1500 CE, and the Chatham penguin was probably hunted to extinction within 150–200 years along with many other bird species and one species of sea lion. [3] It was almost certainly extinct before Europeans arrived in the Chatham Islands. [5] There has been a suggestion, however, the species persisted as recently as the late 19th century, because a crested penguin from the Chathams is recorded as being kept captive for several weeks around 1871 or 1872. [4] [6] Its species was noted as "Eudyptes pachyrhynchus", the modern scientific name for the Fiordland penguin. At the time, the name could also refer to the Snares penguin (E. robustus) and the erect-crested penguin (E. sclateri). Crested penguin species are in fact regular, possibly even annual, visitors to the Chatham Islands. At least three species are recorded from there: Snares penguins, erect-crested penguins, and a member of the rockhopper penguin group. The captured bird was likely one of these three. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand swan</span> Extinct species of swan

The New Zealand swan is an extinct indigenous swan from the Chatham Islands and the South Island of New Zealand. Discovered as archaeological remains in 1889, it was originally considered a separate species from the Australian black swan because of its slightly larger bones, and swans not having been introduced to New Zealand until 1864. From 1998 until 2017, it was considered to be simply a New Zealand population of Cygnus atratus, until DNA recovered from fossil bones determined that it was indeed a separate species, much larger and heavier than its Australian relative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-eyed penguin</span> Species of penguin

The yellow-eyed penguin, known also as hoiho, is a species of penguin endemic to New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snares penguin</span> Species of bird

The Snares penguin, also known as the Snares crested penguin and the Snares Islands penguin, is a penguin from New Zealand. The species breeds on the Snares Islands, a group of islands off the southern coast of the South Island. It is a yellow-crested penguin, with a size of 50–70 cm (19.5–27.5 in) and a weight of 2.5–4 kg (5.5–8.8 lb). It has dark blue-black upper parts and white underparts. It has a bright yellow eyebrow-stripe which extends over the eye to form a drooping, bushy crest. It has bare pink skin at the base of its large red-brown bill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiordland penguin</span> Species of bird

The Fiordland penguin, also known as the Fiordlandcrested penguin, is a crested penguin species endemic to New Zealand. It currently breeds along the south-western coasts of New Zealand's South Island as well as on Stewart Island/Rakiura and its outlying islands. Because it originally ranged beyond Fiordland, it is sometimes referred to as the New Zealand crested penguin. It is occasionally found in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crested penguin</span> Genus of birds

Eudyptes is a genus of penguins whose members are collectively called crested penguins. The exact number of species in the genus varies between four and seven depending on the authority, and a Chatham Islands species became extinct in recent centuries. All are black and white penguins with yellow crests, red bills and eyes, and are found on Subantarctic islands in the world's southern oceans. All lay two eggs, but raise only one young per breeding season; the first egg laid is substantially smaller than the second.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flightless bird</span> Birds that cannot fly

Flightless birds are birds that, through evolution, lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island rail. The largest flightless bird, which is also the largest living bird in general, is the common ostrich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laughing owl</span> Extinct species of owl

The laughing owl, also known as whēkau, the jackass, or the white-faced owl, is an extinct species of owl that was endemic to New Zealand. Plentiful when European settlers arrived in New Zealand, its scientific description was published in 1845, but it was largely or completely extinct by 1914. The species was traditionally considered to belong to the monotypic genus Sceloglaux Kaup, 1848, although recent genetic studies indicate that it belongs with the boobook owls in the genus Ninox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Island takahē</span> Extinct species of bird

The North Island takahē is an extinct species of flightless swamphen that was native to the North Island of New Zealand. It is closely related to the living South Island takahē.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern moa</span> Extinct species of bird

The eastern moa is an extinct species of moa that was endemic to New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawkins's rail</span> Extinct species of bird

Hawkins's rail, also called the giant Chatham Island rail or in Moriori as mehonui, is an extinct species of flightless rail. It was endemic to the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand. It is known to have existed only on the main islands of Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Hawkins's rail was the largest terrestrial bird native to the Chatham Islands, around 40 centimetres (16 in) tall and weighing about 2 kilograms (4.4 lb). It had a long, downward curving beak. Historic accounts likely referring to the bird by the name "mehonui" suggest that it was red-brown in colour, and it has been compared to the weka in ecological habits, using its beak to probe decaying wood for invertebrates. Hawkins's rail likely became extinct due to overhunting by the islands native inhabitants, the Moriori, and the bird is known from skeletal remains found in their kitchen middens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham rail</span> Extinct species of bird

The Chatham rail is an extinct flightless species of bird in the family Rallidae. It was endemic to Chatham, Mangere and Pitt Islands, in the Chatham archipelago of New Zealand. The Chatham rail was first discovered on Mangere in 1871, and 26 specimens collected there are known from museum collections. Its Māori name was "mātirakahu".

The Waitaha penguin is an extinct subspecies of Megadyptes antipodes, and sister taxon to the extant yellow-eyed penguin, that probably died out soon after humans settled in New Zealand. It was described in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham kākā</span> Extinct species of bird

The Chatham kākā or Chatham Island kākā is an extinct parrot species previously found on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. The first individuals were thought to belong to the New Zealand kākā, but detailed examination of the subfossil bones showed that they actually belong to a separate endemic species. The species became extinct within the first 150 years of the arrival of the Polynesians around 1500, long before any European settlers. No skins or descriptions are available.

The Hunter Island penguin is the former common name given to a number of subfossil penguin remains found in a Holocene Aboriginal midden at Stockyard Site on Hunter Island, in Bass Strait 5 km off the western end of the north coast of Tasmania, Australia. The remains were estimated by radiocarbon dating to be about 760 ± 70 years old and were used as basis to describe a new genus and species, Tasidyptes hunteri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham coot</span> Extinct species of bird

The Chatham coot, also known as the Chatham Island coot, is an extinct bird in the rail family, Rallidae, that was endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. It was described from subfossil bones in 1892 by Scottish explorer, ornithologist and botanist Henry Forbes, who was director of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch at the time.

Imber's petrel is an extinct seabird of gadfly petrel from the Chatham Islands. The species' epithet commemorates New Zealand ornithologist Mike Imber (1940–2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foveaux shag</span> Species of bird

The Foveaux shag, together with the Otago shag formerly known as the Stewart Island shag and in its dark phase as the bronze shag, is a species of shag endemic to Stewart Island / Rakiura and Foveaux Strait, from which it takes its name.

References

  1. ↑ "Eudyptes warhami. NZTCS". nztcs.org.nz. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cole, Theresa L.; Ksepka, Daniel T.; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Tennyson, Alan J. D.; Thomas, Daniel B.; Pan, Hailin; Zhang, Guojie; Rawlence, Nicolas J.; Wood, Jamie R.; Bover, Pere; Bouzat, Juan L.; Cooper, Alan; Fiddamanl, Steven; Hart, Tom; Miller, Gary; Ryan, Peter G.; Shepherd, Lara D.; Wilmshurst, Janet M.; Waters, Jonathan M. (2019). "Mitogenomes uncover extinct penguin taxa and reveal island formation as a key driver of speciation". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 36 (4): 784–797. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msz017 . PMID   30722030.
  3. 1 2 Rawlence, Nicolas J.; Collins, Catherine J.; Anderson, Christian N. K.; Maxwell, Justin J.; Smith, Ian W. G.; Robertson, Bruce C.; Knapp, Michael; Horsburgh, Katherine Ann; Stanton, Jo-Ann L.; Scofield, R. Paul; Tennyson, Alan J. D.; Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth A.; Waters, Jonathan M. (2016). "Human-mediated extirpation of the unique Chatham Islands sea lion and implications for the conservation management of remaining New Zealand sea lion populations". Molecular Ecology. 25 (16): 3950–3961. Bibcode:2016MolEc..25.3950R. doi:10.1111/mec.13726. ISSN   1365-294X. PMID   27289078. S2CID   25866513.
  4. 1 2 Tennyson, A.J.D.; Millener, P.R. (1994). "Bird extinctions and fossil bones from Mangere Island, Chatham Islands" (PDF). Notornis. 41 (supplement): 165–178.
  5. 1 2 Millener, P. R. (1999). "The history of the Chatham Islands' bird fauna of the last 7000 years – a chronicle of change and extinction. Proceedings of the 4th International meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution (Washington, D.C., June 1996)" (PDF). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 89: 85–109.
  6. 1 2 Miskelly, Colin M.; Bell, Mike (2004). "An unusual influx of Snares crested penguins (Eudyptes robustus) on the Chatham Islands, with a review of other crested penguin records from the islands". Notornis. 51 (4): 235–237.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.