Tasidyptes hunteri (Hunter Island Penguin)

[Melanie]

Tasidyptes hunteri

from Hunter Island, Tasmania. Became extinct between 1050 and 1392 AD

[another specialist]

At least one other penguin species appears to have lived in Australia in quite recent times: an 800-year-old midden on Hunter Island in Bass Strait has yielded bones of a new genus and species, Tasidyptes hunteri. The role of humans in making this penguin extinct is uncertain, but as the bones were found in a midden, it seems possible that humans made some sort of contribution.

members.ozemail.com.au/~[e-mail]/syd/animals.htm

[another specialist]

At least three Holocene penguin extinctions have been reported so far. The first
of the supposed lost species is Tasidyptes hunteri Van Tets et O’Connor, 1983 re−
covered from a 13th century midden on Hunter Island, Tasmania; a bird about the
size of the Rockhopper Penguin, Eudyptes chrysocome (Forster, 1781) (Van Tets
and O’Connor 1983; see also Harrison 1984). Fordyce and Jones (1990) called the
material “debatably diagnostic”.

www.polar.pan.pl/ppr30/PPR30-003.pdf

[Sebbe]

A review of Australian fossil penguins (Aves: Sphenisciformes)

Tasidyptes hunteri Van Tets and O’Connor, 1983
Holotype. Pelvis in three parts (ANWC BS2670) (Table 2).
Type locality. Stockyard Site, Hunter Island, 5 km north of
Tasmania (40°32'S, 144°45'E).
Horizon and age. Material found in an aboriginal midden.
Carbon dating resulted in an age of 760 ± 70 ybp (Holocene).
Referred material. The paratype specimen is a left
tarsometatarsus (ANWC BS2668). Also referred to the species
are a juvenile synsacrum (ANWC BS2667) and a left coracoid
(ANWC BS2669). (Table 2)
Diagnosis. Differs from Eudyptula and Megadyptes by having:
a caudal part of the synsacrum with relatively broader fused
vertebrae and long slender lateral processes; and the lateral
foramen vasculare proximale situated more distal than the
medial foramen vasculare proximale on the plantar surface of
the tarsometatarsus. However, this character is not clear from
the figure in Van Tets and O’Connor (1983: Fig. 4).
Remarks. This taxon is no longer considered valid due to the
fragmentary nature of the fossils, the fact that the coracoid and
tarsometatarsus are indistinguishable from Eudyptes and the
fact that the four specimens come from three different
stratigraphic layers of the midden (Van Tets and O’Connor,
1983; Fordyce and Jones, 1990; Ksepka and Clarke, 2010).
However, Ksepka and Clarke (2010) note that due to the young
age of the specimens, DNA testing to confirm their identity
may well be possible. Ksepka and Ando (2011: 178) also draw
attention to the synsacrum stating that the long slender lateral
processes may be “a possible diagnostic character, certainly in
need of quantitative evaluation”.

museumvictoria.com.au/pages/41623/momv-2012-vol-69-pp309-325.pdf

[Sebbe]

Ancient DNA reveals that the ‘extinct’ Hunter Island penguin (Tasidyptes hunteri) is not a distinct taxon

The penguin species Tasidyptes hunterivan 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.

academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx043/4080135/Ancient-DNA-reveals-that-the-extinct-Hunter-Island?redirectedFrom=fulltext

[Melanie]

Conclusion: Tasidyptes hunteri is a junior synonym of Eudyptes pachyrhynchus.

[Melanie]

This ‘Extinct’ Penguin Likely Never Existed in the First Place
DNA analysis helps untangle the species behind a jumble of bone fragments

Read more: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/extinct-penguin-actually-never-existed-first-place-180964556/#juUJyvzreoHYGjxK.99