Megadyptes antipodes ssp. waitaha (Waitaha Penguin)

[another specialist]

'New' Penguin Species In New Zealand Found Using Ancient DNA From Fossils

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2008) — Australian and New Zealand researchers have used ancient DNA from penguin fossils to make a startling discovery that may change the way we view species extinctions.
A team from the University of Adelaide, the University of Otago, and Canterbury Museum in New Zealand has identified a previously unknown penguin species while conducting research on New Zealand's endangered yellow-eyed penguin, one the world's rarest penguin species and the subject of an extensive conservation effort.
The Waitaha penguin became extinct after Polynesian settlement but before 1500 AD, creating an opportunity for the yellow-eyed penguin to subsequently colonise the New Zealand mainland from its base in the sub-Antarctic islands.
"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 sub-Antarctic relatively recently and replaced the extinct Waitaha Penguin," said team member Dr Jeremy Austin, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA.
"Previous analysis of fossil records and anecdotal evidence suggested that the yellow-eyed penguin was more abundant and widespread in the past, but it now appears they have only been around for 500 years," he said.
The team, led by University of Otago PhD student Sanne Boessenkool, identified the large-bodied Waitaha Penguin using ancient DNA from prehistoric bones, combined with traditional morphological techniques.
"Competition between the two species previously prevented the yellow-eyed penguin from expanding northwards but environmental changes in the predator population, such as the severe decline of sea lions, may have facilitated their colonisation in the South Island."
Researchers say the surprising finding demonstrates the unexpected ways in which species can respond to human and environmental impacts, and the role of extinction events in shaping our current environment.
Other University of Adelaide members of the research team include Dr Trevor Worthy and Professor Alan Cooper from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
The team's findings have been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, an international biological research journal.



In this 2006 photo released Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 by the New Zealand Science Media Centre shown is a yellow-eyed penguin. Australian and New Zealand researchers studying one of the world's rare and endangered penguins have uncovered a previously unknown penguin species that disappeared about 500 years ago. The newly found 'Waitaha' penguin became extinct after Polynesian settlement of New Zealand but before A.D. 1500, researchers from Australia's University of Adelaide, New Zealand's University of Otago and Canterbury Museum, reported Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. The find came as the team was investigating changes in the endangered New Zealand yellow-eyed penguin population since human settlement of New Zealand around A.D. 1200-1300.(AP Photo/New Zealand Science Media Centre,Sanne Boessenkool, HO)



In this 2006 photo released Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 by the New Zealand Science Media Centre shown are a pair of yellow-eyed penguins. Australian and New Zealand researchers studying one of the world's rare and endangered penguins have uncovered a previously unknown penguin species that disappeared about 500 years ago. The newly found 'Waitaha' penguin became extinct after Polynesian settlement of New Zealand but before A.D. 1500, researchers from Australia's University of Adelaide, New Zealand's University of Otago and Canterbury Museum, reported Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. The find came as the team was investigating changes in the endangered New Zealand yellow-eyed penguin population since human settlement of New Zealand around A.D. 1200-1300.(AP Photo/New Zealand Science Media Centre, Bastiaan Star)



In this March 2008 photo released Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 by the New Zealand Science Media Centre shown are 'Waitaha' penguin bones. Australian and New Zealand researchers studying one of the world's rare and endangered penguins have uncovered a previously unknown penguin species that disappeared about 500 years ago. The newly found 'Waitaha' penguin became extinct after Polynesian settlement of New Zealand but before A.D.1500, researchers from Australia's University of Adelaide, New Zealand's University of Otago and Canterbury Museum, reported Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008.(AP Photo/New Zealand Science Media Centre,HO)

www.sciencedaily.com/

[another specialist]

'New' Penguin Species In New Zealand Found Using Ancient DNA From Fossils

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2008) — Australian and New Zealand researchers have used ancient DNA from penguin fossils to make a startling discovery that may change the way we view species extinctions.



Mounted specimen of Yellow-eyed Penguin. (Credit: Photos courtesy of Canterbury Museum)

A team from the University of Adelaide, the University of Otago, and Canterbury Museum in New Zealand has identified a previously unknown penguin species while conducting research on New Zealand's endangered yellow-eyed penguin, one the world's rarest penguin species and the subject of an extensive conservation effort.

The Waitaha penguin became extinct after Polynesian settlement but before 1500 AD, creating an opportunity for the yellow-eyed penguin to subsequently colonise the New Zealand mainland from its base in the sub-Antarctic islands.

"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 sub-Antarctic relatively recently and replaced the extinct Waitaha Penguin," said team member Dr Jeremy Austin, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA.

"Previous analysis of fossil records and anecdotal evidence suggested that the yellow-eyed penguin was more abundant and widespread in the past, but it now appears they have only been around for 500 years," he said.

The team, led by University of Otago PhD student Sanne Boessenkool, identified the large-bodied Waitaha Penguin using ancient DNA from prehistoric bones, combined with traditional morphological techniques.

"Competition between the two species previously prevented the yellow-eyed penguin from expanding northwards but environmental changes in the predator population, such as the severe decline of sea lions, may have facilitated their colonisation in the South Island."

Researchers say the surprising finding demonstrates the unexpected ways in which species can respond to human and environmental impacts, and the role of extinction events in shaping our current environment.

Other University of Adelaide members of the research team include Dr Trevor Worthy and Professor Alan Cooper from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

The team's findings have been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, an international biological research journal.
Adapted from materials provided by University Of Adelaide.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081118194528.htm

[another specialist]

Rare penguin took over from rival


The arrival of humans in New Zealand may have led to the extinction of one penguin species - to the advantage of another.
Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, researchers say the extinct species lived in areas now home to New Zealand's rare yellow eyed penguin.
The extinction is thought to have occurred as recently as 500 years ago.
Early settlers wiped out many of New Zealand's unique animal species.
Scientists from the University of Otago, New Zealand, say they discovered the new species unintentionally when researching the genetic history of the yellow eyed penguin.
Although there are only around 7,000 yellow eyed penguins they have a wide range, being found on the sub Antarctic Campbell and Auckland islands as well as 700 km (435 miles) further north on the South-East coast of New Zealand's South Island.
DNA evidence
The discovery of the new species was something of a mystery according to Sanne Boessenkool, who led the research.
"They were around 10% smaller [than the yellow eyed penguin] they were very closely related, but we can't say if they had a yellow crown. There are no records of their existence from the local Maori people," she told BBC
news.



DNA samples were taken from the feet of stuffed penguins

DNA analysis compared modern penguins with samples from the feet of 100-year-old museum specimens and 500-year-old bones from both the sub-Antarctic islands and early Polynesian settlements on New Zealand's South Island.
The older bones found in South Island were smaller than those from the modern yellow eyed penguins and contained different DNA.
The DNA from the sub-Antarctic islands matched that of the modern birds.
This geographic variation and subtle differences in the structure and shape of the bones led the researchers to conclude that New Zealand's South Island had been home to a different, now extinct penguin and to designate this as a new species.

Hunting Penguins
Sanne Boessenkool says it's hard to pinpoint exactly why the penguins became extinct but its likely they were eaten by Polynesian settlers who arrived from about 1280AD.
"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,"
The new species has been named Megadyptes Waitaha. The Waitaha were the first Polynesian tribe to occupy South Island.
M. waitaha's rapid replacement by its close relative the yellow eyed penguin, Megadyptes antipodies, raises questions about current dating techniques and extinction theories, says Sanne Boessenkool.
"Often when we look back in time and date bones we don't think a couple of hundred years is important, but here you get a complete shift in just a couple of hundred years. These patterns might be more common, a view we don't consider when looking at large scale extinction events,"she explained.



Yellow eyed penguins increased their territorial range

Shy and secretive
By the time Europeans arrived in South Island in the 1800s, the yellow eyed penguins had already taken over the sites left by its relative. The bird's breeding behaviour makes it an unlikely coloniser. Sanne BoessenKool has studied them in the field for many years.
"They are very secretive, shy and difficult to monitor, they don't live in big colonies, but build their own nest perhaps under some bushes," she commented.
Despite their fragile foothold the researchers say these incoming penguins probably survived on New Zealand's South Island due to a change in human behaviour.
Either the human settlers moved further north due to a lack of food following the extinction of the earlier penguins and other species, or they had begun to develop some of the conservation principles found in contemporary Maori culture and so saw a need to allow these penguins to survive.
Sanne Boessenkool is now investigating how and when the penguins moved across from the sub-Antarctic Auckland and Campbell islands.
"It is a mystery, were now looking at the ways it may have colonised, if its a small group or if they are still coming," she said.



The yellow eyed penguin is bigger than its extinct relative

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7735500.stm

[another specialist]

MAORI `MUNCHIES’ LEFT A NICHE ON THE MAINLAND FOR HOIHO - STUDY

19 November 2008

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ENVIRONMENT: Researchers using ancient DNA from penguin fossils say the discovery that the yellow-eyed penguin moved to the New Zealand mainland after Maori settlement wiped out its predecessors has implications for modern species extinctions.

A team of researchers from Otago University, Canterbury Museum, and Adelaide University said the discovery showed unexpected ways in which species could respond to human and environmental impacts, and the role of extinction events in shaping the modern environment.

Led by Otago PhD student Sanne Boessenkool, the researchers were studying the endangered yellow-eyed penguin, one the world’s rarest penguin species, which now appears to have been on the mainland for only 500 years. The modern population is thought to number 7000.

"Yellow-eyed penguins on mainland New Zealand are not a declining remnant of a previous abundant population, but came from the sub-Antarctic relatively recently and replaced the extinct Waitaha penguin," Dr Jeremy Austin, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, said today.

Two of the Adelaide researchers, New Zealanders Dr Trevor Worthy and Professor Alan Cooper, played key roles in identifying from fossil bones and DNA the previous occupant of the ecological niche on the mainland, the Waitaha penguin.

Samples from the feet of 100-year-old museum specimens and 500-year-old bones from both the sub-Antarctic islands and early Maori settlements were compared.

The Waitaha penguin became extinct after the Maori migration to NZ -- with their Polynesian rats -- but before 1500AD.

This opened up a niche which allowed the yellow-eyed penguin to also colonise the mainland from its base in the sub-Antarctic Campbell and Auckland islands 700km south.

Environmental changes, including a severe decline in the number of sea lions, may have aided their colonisation in the South Island.

The Waitaha penguins were about 10 percent smaller than the yellow-eyed penguin.

Ms Boessenkool said it was likely the Waitaha penguins were eaten by early Maori: "The fact we find these bones in archaeological sites, villages or settlements, suggests hunting played a role," she told the BBC. "The birds were an easy target, easy to take and there were never very many of them."

By the time Europeans arrived in South Island in the 1800s, the yellow-eyed penguins had already taken over the sites left by its relative.

Ms Boessenkool said the hoiho are secretive, shy and don’t live in big colonies, but probably survived due to a change in human behaviour.

Either the human settlers moved farther north due to a lack of food following the extinction of the earlier penguins and other species, or they had begun to develop some basic conservation concepts and recognised the need to allow some penguins to live.

She is now investigating when the penguins migrated, and whether there are still penguins moving to the mainland.

www.nznewsuk.co.uk/environment/?ID=13887&StartRow=1

[Melanie]

Here is the complete description of the Waitaha Penguin

journals.royalsociety.org/content/q57761131g1428t5/fulltext.pdf

[another specialist]

Nov 21, 2008 10:33:57 GMT Melanie said:

Here is the complete description of the Waitaha Penguin

journals.royalsociety.org/content/q57761131g1428t5/fulltext.pdf

[another specialist]

[another specialist]

The Waitaha Penguin (Megadyptes waitaha) is an extinct species of New Zealand penguin discovered in November 2008.

The new species was discovered by University of Otago and University of Adelaide[2] scientists comparing the foot bones of 500-year-old, 100-year-old and modern specimens of penguins. They initially believed all belonged to the Yellow-eyed Penguin, (Megadyptes antipodes), a species which has been threatened since human settlement. However, the 500-year-old bones yielded different DNA and "were around 10% smaller than the Yellow-eyed Penguin. The two species are very closely related".[3] "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 sub-Antarctic relatively recently and replaced the extinct Waitaha Penguin," said team member Dr Jeremy Austin, deputy director of the Australasian Centre for Ancient DNA.[4]

As the local Māori people have no record of this different species, it is estimated to have perished between c. AD 1300 and 1500, soon after Polynesian settlement of New Zealand. The report was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.[1][3][5]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitaha_Penguin

[another specialist]

When biologists in New Zealand compared modern yellow-eyed penguins to centuries-old museum specimens, they realized that the birds were not the same species. Megadyptes waitaha is a brand-new species that's already extinct.

Photo courtesy University of Adelaide

www.wired.com/science/planetearth/multimedia/2008/12/YE8_organisms?slide=9&slideView=5

[another specialist]

Another extinction event is thought to have oc−
curred as recently as 500 years ago in southern New Zealand (Boessenkool et al.
2009). Genetic and morphological analyses revealed previously unrecognized sister
species of the Yellow−Eyed Penguin (Megadyptes antipodes), namely Megadyptes
waitaha Boessenkool et al., 2009. Interestingly, Boessenkool et al. (2009) explained
this event in terms of human predation and proposed it as a factor that had triggered
the range expansion of M. antipodes.

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

[surroundx]

Radiocarbon-dating and ancient DNA reveal rapid replacement of extinct prehistoric penguins

Abstract

Prehistoric faunal extinctions dramatically reshaped biological assemblages around the world. However, the timing of such biotic shifts is often obscured by the fragmentary nature and limited temporal resolution of fossil records. We use radiocarbon-dating and ancient-DNA analysis of prehistoric (ca A.D. 1450–1834) Megadyptes penguin specimens to assess the time-frame of biological turnover in coastal New Zealand following human settlement. These data suggest that the final extirpation of the endemic Megadyptes waitaha, and subsequent replacement by the previously sub-Antarctic-limited Megadyptes antipodes, likely occurred within a narrow temporal window (e.g. a century or less). This transition represents one of the most rapid prehistoric faunal turnover events documented, and is likely linked to human demographic and cultural transitions during the 15th Century. Our results suggest that anthropogenic forces can trigger rapid biogeographic shifts.

Source:

Rawlence, Nicholas J. et al. (2015). Radiocarbon-dating and ancient DNA reveal rapid replacement of extinct prehistoric penguins. Quaternary Science Reviews 112: 59-65. [Abstract]

[Sebbe]

Evidence for breeding of Megadyptes penguins in the North Island at the time of human arrival.

The arrival of humans in New Zealand around 750 years ago resulted in widespread faunal extinctions including the endemic Waitaha penguin (Megadyptes waitaha). Previously thought to have only bred on coastal South Island and Stewart Island, recent genetic reanalysis of prehistoric large penguin bones from the lower North Island indicates that the Waitaha penguin may have been a common resident. Here we synthesise previous studies and present new palaeontological and archaeological evidence to suggest that the Waitaha penguin was probably breeding in the lower North Island at the time of human arrival, and did not represent vagrant individuals from more southerly breeding colonies. The elimination of breeding Megadyptes from the North Island would add to the already significant avifaunal losses from New Zealand, of which the North Island suffered the greatest biodiversity loss after the arrival of humans.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03014223.2018.1523202?journalCode=tnzz20

[surroundx]

Fire and ice: Genomic insights into the evolution, biogeography and extinction of modern penguins

Islands of the vast Southern Ocean host abundant endemic wildlife populations representing important breeding grounds for many seabirds. With contrasting geological, glacial and human-impact histories, these islands represent strong systems for inferring evolutionary processes. Although penguins ( Sphenisciformes) spend much of their lives at sea, most taxa require ice-free terrain for breeding, inhabiting every major landmass and archipelago in the Southern Ocean. While penguins are distributed widely across sub-Antarctic and Antarctic coastlines, nearly a third of all taxa are endemic to geologically young islands, especially in the New Zealand (NZ) region. Penguins therefore represent an ideal group of seabirds with which to study the biogeographic and evolutionary effects of island history. This thesis extends classic approaches in island biology research to the Southern Ocean islands, using penguins as the focal system. The various analyses include evidence from near-complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes), thousands of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), together with mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and control region (CR) sequences, generated to examine spatial and temporal evolutionary patterns across all extant and recently extinct taxa. First, this thesis generates a broad framework for understanding penguin evolution by providing the first time-calibrated phylogeny to encompass all modern taxa. Divergence-time estimates demonstrate that many island-endemic taxa diverged following the geological emergence of their natal islands. This study also provides the first molecular demographic analyses to encompass all sub-Antarctic and Antarctic penguin taxa. Genome-wide SNPs yielded signatures of concerted demographic expansions following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), suggesting taxa inhabiting islands south of the LGM sea-ice limit underwent rapid post-glacial expansions associated with rapid climate change. This result is further supported by very low population structure across entire Southern Ocean distributions. This thesis provides the first multi-species genetic assessment of the impacts of Polynesian and European arrival on NZ and Chatham Island penguin assemblages. Phylogenetic analyses of modern and ancient mitogenomes, together with COI and CR sequences, revealed the presence of two recently extinct penguin taxa from the Chatham Islands: Eudyptes warhami and Megadyptes antipodes richdalei, that are formally described here using genetic and morphological comparisons. Recent extinction of these island-endemic lineages was likely a direct result of human pressure. By contrast, phylogenetic and demographic analyses of COI and CR sequences revealed limited evidence for demographic reductions in NZ Eudyptes penguins, with ecological preferences possibly buffering those taxa from human impacts. This thesis also provides new systematic insights for ‘extinct’ prehistoric penguins elsewhere, demonstrating that the so-called Hunter Island penguin is actually an artificial assemblage of three extant taxa. Finally, this study concludes that rockhopper penguins comprise three species (Eudyptes moseleyi, E. filholi and E. chrysocome), that extant and extinct Megadyptes penguins comprise three subspecies (M. antipodes antipodes, M. a. waitaha and M. a. richdalei) and that macaroni (Eudyptes chrysolophus chrysolophus) and royal (E. c. schlegeli) penguins are probably incipient species. Overall, this study provides a global assessment of recent penguin biogeography, evolution and extinction, providing a comprehensive basis for ongoing management and conservation of penguin biodiversity.

ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/handle/10523/9614