Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...

Waitaha penguin Temporal range: Holocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Conservation status
Extinct (1300–1500[1]) (NZ TCS)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Sphenisciformes
Family:	Spheniscidae
Genus:	Megadyptes
Species:	M. antipodes
Subspecies:	†M. a. waitaha
Trinomial name
†Megadyptes antipodes waitaha (Boessenkool et al., 2009)[3][4]
Synonyms
Megadyptes waitaha[1]

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It has been suggested that this article be merged into Yellow-eyed penguin. (Discuss) Proposed since October 2023.

The Waitaha penguin (Megadyptes antipodes waitaha) is an extinct subspecies^[3][4] of Megadyptes antipodes, and sister taxon to the extant yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes antipodes), that probably died out soon after humans settled in New Zealand. It was described (then as a separate species) in 2009.^[1]

The Waitaha penguin was initially described in 2009 as a separate species.^[1] It was discovered by University of Otago and University of Adelaide^[5] scientists comparing the foot bones of 500-year-old, 100-year-old and modern specimens of penguins. They were initially believed to have all belonged to the extant yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes), a species that has been threatened since human settlement. However, the 500-year-old subfossil bones yielded different DNA. According to lead researcher Sanne Boessenkool, Waitaha penguins "were around 10% smaller than the yellow-eyed penguin. The two species are very closely related, but we can't say if they had a yellow crown."^[6] The penguin was named for the Māori iwi (tribe) Waitaha, whose tribal lands included the areas the Waitaha penguin are thought to have inhabited.^[1] "Our findings demonstrate that yellow-eyed penguins on mainland New Zealand are not a declining remnant of a previous abundant population, but came from the subantarctic relatively recently and replaced the extinct Waitaha penguin," said team member Dr Jeremy Austin, deputy director of the Australasian Centre for Ancient DNA.^[7]

DNA studies from 2019 and 2022 recommended classifying it as M. a. waitaha, a subspecies of Megadyptes antipodes.^[3][4] Thus, Megadyptes antipodes is native to mainland New Zealand after all.

As the local Māori people have no record of this subspecies,^[6] it is estimated to have perished between c. 1300 and 1500, soon after Polynesian settlers arrived in New Zealand.^[8] While it is currently unclear precisely how it became extinct, Boessenkool says they were probably eaten by the settlers. "The fact we find these bones in archaeological sites, villages or settlements, suggests hunting played a role. The birds were an easy target, easy to take and there were never very many of them."^[6] After their extinction, their range was occupied by yellow-eyed penguins (now Megadyptes antipodes antipodes), previously most abundant in the subantarctic islands further south. The decrease in sea lion populations after human settlement may also have eased their expansion. Another coauthor, Dr Phil Seddon, said "these unexpected results highlight ... the dynamic nature of ecosystem change, where the loss of one species may open up opportunities for the expansion of another."^[9] The report was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.^[1]

• Fauna of New Zealand
• List of extinct New Zealand animals
• List of birds of New Zealand