Marples' Penguin was a large species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of the extinct penguin

Penguin

Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers...

 genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Palaeeudyptes. It stood between 105 and 145 cm high in life, larger than the present Emperor Penguin

Emperor Penguin

The Emperor Penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in height and weighing anywhere from . The dorsal side and head are black and sharply delineated from the white belly,...

. The precise relationship between this species and the slightly smaller Narrow-flippered Penguin (Palaeeudyptes antarcticus) from somewhat younger rocks is not resolved; possibly, P. marplesi is a synonym or subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of P. antarcticus.

This species is known from a partial skeleton, mainly leg bones (Otago Museum

Otago museum

The Otago Museum is situated in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was founded in 1868 and has a collection of over two million artefacts and specimens from the fields of natural history and ethnography...

 C.50.25 to C.50.45), recovered from Middle or Late Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

 Burnside Mudstone rocks (34-40 MYA) at Burnside, Dunedin

Burnside, Otago

Burnside is a mainly industrial suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located at the mouth of a long valley, the Kaikorai Valley, through which flows the Kaikorai Stream. This valley stretches to the northeast for . Burnside is to the southwest of the city centre, close to eastern end...

. Many other bones are often assigned to this species. However, as most of them are only roughly dated and intermediate in size between this species and P. antarcticus, they should not be referred to either taxon pending a comprehensive review of the New Zealand material of Palaeeudyptes (which will probably result in recognizing that P. marplesi was a larger progenitor species or subspecies of P. antarcticus).

The binomen

Binomen

In zoological nomenclature, a binomen , is the two-part name of a species. The term was introduced in 1953, abolishing the previously used "binomial name" . A binomen consists of a generic name and a specific epithet...

 of this species honors Brian J. Marples, one of the foremost researchers of fossil penguins in the 20th century.