Theresa L Cole, Jonathan M Waters, Lara D Shepherd, Nicolas J Rawlence, Leo Joseph & Jamie R Wood , 2017
Ancient DNA reveals that the ‘extinct’ Hunter Island penguin (Tasidyptes hunteri) is not a distinct taxon
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlx043,
https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx043
Published: 09 August 2017
Abstract:
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean...extinct-Hunter-Island?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Abstract
The penguin species
Tasidyptes hunteri van Tets & O’Connor, 1983, the sole representative of an extinct penguin genus, was described on the basis of four bones excavated from a prehistoric midden on Tasmania’s Hunter Island. Several authors have since questioned the validity of
T. hunteri, citing the fragmentary nature of the remains and the similarity of some elements (coracoid and tarsometatarsus) to those of extant crested penguin (
Eudyptes) species. We designed four overlapping primer pairs to amplify a 499 bp region of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) in penguins and used these to amplify and sequence COI from all known bones attributed to
T. hunteri. The
T. hunteri COI sequences were assessed within a phylogenetic framework against COI sequences for all extant penguin species. Our results reveal that the
T. hunteri bones are an assemblage of remains from three extant penguin species (
Eudyptes pachyrhynchus,
E. robustus,
Eudyptula novaehollandiae), and we find no molecular support for any of these bones representing an extinct penguin lineage.
Enjoy,
Fred