Talk:Yellow-eyed penguin

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The yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) is only found in New Zealand is one of the rarest of our penguins. They live and breed around the south-east coast of the South island, on Stewart island and in the sub-antarctic Auckland and Campbell islands. They are known to Maori as Hoiho

There is a move discussion in progress on

This section of text from the article Waitaha penguin piques my interest:

"A 2019 study recommended classifying the Waitaha penguin as M. a. waitaha, a subspecies of the extant yellow-eyed penguin.^[1] If this taxonomic revision is confirmed, then Megadyptes antipodes is native to mainland New Zealand after all."

The citation goes to a scientific journal from four years ago, which defines the the Waitaha penguin as a subspecies of yellow-eyed penguin. What kind of "confirmation" to we need as Wikipedia editors to perform this page merge? Or at the very least to update the lead of Waitaha penguin to use the scientific name Megadyptes antipodes waitaha? Is this 2019 journal article sufficient evidence?

If we merge Waitaha penguin into Yellow-eyed penguin, then the existence of a separate article called Megadyptes becomes superfluous. This article should also be merged into Yellow-eyed penguin, since Megadyptes antipodes is the only valid species in the genus. Columbianmammoth (talk) 03:38, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Oppose. I wouldn't consider one single journal article sufficient for a merger, no. Did anyone follow up on that suggestion in the scientific literature? —VeryRarelyStable 03:55, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Now that you ask, a quick Google Scholar search uncovered a 2022 paper that uses the new names.^[2] This paper refers to the Waitaha penguin as Megadyptes antipodes waitaha and the extant yellow-eyed penguin as Megadyptes antipodes antipodes. Please let me know if you find any other papers. Columbianmammoth (talk) 04:14, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Oppose. Article says it's a species. If it is confirmed as a subspecies and the article is changed accordingly, then we can reconsider. Nurg (talk) 08:52, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Are the aforementioned 2019 and 2022 DNA studies sufficient “confirmation” that Megadyptes antipodes waitaha is a subspecies to edit the article accordingly? Or what additional “confirmation” would you like to see? Columbianmammoth (talk) 18:44, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know enough about how zoologists decide these things, but from a quick look I don't see anything to contradict the idea that it is a subspecies, so have no objection to the article being changed accordingly. Re the proposed merger: there are other articles about subspecies. Are there any guidelines about (not) having articles for subspecies? Nurg (talk) 08:41, 24 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent. I preformed the relevant edits to the article text, haven’t cleaned up the taxobox yet. As for precedent to merge, consider the articles for the New Zealand goose and adzebills. In each case, only one article represents a genus containing two recently extinct species. I suppose there’s not enough information to talk about to merit splitting the articles on the species level, let alone the subspecies level. Conversely, there is some precedent for splitting articles on the subspecies level, but chiefly for extant species with a large distributions, such as the brown bear and black rhinoceros. Columbianmammoth (talk) 14:30, 24 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Support. My initial concern has been addressed and Columbianmammoth's rationale just above sounds reasonable, so I support the proposal, unless someone else raises a good counterargument. Nurg (talk) 04:08, 25 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: The authoritative Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand (5th edition, 2022) recognizes one species: the yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). It recognizes three subspecies: the yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes antipodes), Waitaha penguin (Megadyptes antipodes waitaha), and Richdale's penguin (Megadyptes antipodes richdalei).^[3] Columbianmammoth (talk) 20:28, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

In that case, a merger is reasonable. —VeryRarelyStable 23:09, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Weak oppose. I'm hesitant to rely on a single journal, but I'm also conscious that we have other articles on subspecies reasonably frequently (such as Māui dolphin). Even if we do go with the study that says the Waitaha Penguin is a subspecies, I don't think that necessitates a merge. I'd be happy for Megadyptes to be merged into the Yellow-eyed penguin article though, in that instance. Turnagra (talk) 19:59, 25 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]