Palaeeudyptes marplesi

Marples' Penguin (Palaeeudyptes marplesi) was a large species of the extinct penguin genus Palaeeudyptes. It stood between 105 and 145 cm high in life, larger than the present Emperor Penguin. 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 of P. antarcticus.

This species is known from a partial skeleton, mainly leg bones (Otago Museum C.50.25 to C.50.45), recovered from Middle or Late Eocene Burnside Mudstone rocks (34-40 MYA) at Burnside, Dunedin. 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 materal of Palaeeudyptes (which will probably result in recognizing that P. marplesi was a larger progenitor species or subspecies of P. antarcticus).

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