Editing Great auk (section)

==Taxonomy and evolution==
[[File:Pinguinus alfrednewtoni (fossil auk leg bone).jpg|thumb|left|Fossil [[humerus]] of the [[Early Pliocene]] relative ''[[Pinguinus alfrednewtoni]]'']]
Analysis of [[mtDNA]] [[DNA sequence|sequences]] has confirmed [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] and [[biogeography|biogeographical]] studies suggesting that the [[razorbill]] is the closest living relative of the great auk.<ref name="Moum">{{cite journal | last = Moum | first = Truls| author2 = Arnason, Ulfur |author3 = Árnason, Einar | title = Mitochondrial DNA sequence evolution and phylogeny of the Atlantic Alcidae, including the extinct Great Auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') | journal = Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume = 19 | issue = 9 | pages = 1434–1439 | year = 2002| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford| pmid = 12200471 | doi = 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a004206}}</ref> The great auk also was related closely to the [[little auk]] or dovekie, which underwent a radically different evolution compared to ''Pinguinus''. Due to its outward similarity to the razorbill (apart from flightlessness and size), the great auk often was placed in the genus ''Alca'', following Linnaeus.

The oldest known fossil records of the modern great auk are from the [[Boxgrove Palaeolithic site]] of [[England]] and Lower Town Hill Formation of [[Bermuda]], both of which are dated to the [[Middle Pleistocene]] at least 400,000 years [[Before Present|BP]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Harrison, C.J.O.|author2=Stewart J.R.|year=1999|chapter=Avifauna|editor1=Roberts, M.B.|editor2=Parfitt, S.A.|title=Boxgrove: A Middle Pleistocene hominid site at Eartham Quarry, Boxgrove, West Sussex|publisher=English Heritage Archaeological Report 17|pages=187–196|location=London|isbn=9781850746706|url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1416-1/dissemination/pdf/9781848021792_all_72dpi.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Olson, S.L.|year=2003|title=A fossil of the Great Auk ''Pinguinus impennis'' from Middle Pleistocene deposits in Bermuda|journal=Atlantic Seabirds|volume=5|issue=2|pages=81–84|hdl=10088/1557 |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/1557}}</ref> The Pliocene [[sister species]], ''[[Pinguinus alfrednewtoni]]'', and molecular evidence show that the three closely related genera diverged soon after their common ancestor, a bird probably similar to a stout [[Xantus's murrelet]], had spread to the coasts of the Atlantic. Apparently, by that time, the murres, or Atlantic [[guillemot]]s, already had split from the other Atlantic alcids. Razorbill-like birds were common in the Atlantic during the [[Pliocene]], but the evolution of the little auk is sparsely documented.<ref name="Moum" /> The molecular data are compatible with either possibility, but the weight of evidence suggests placing the great auk in a distinct genus.<ref name="Moum" /> Some [[Ornithology|ornithologists]] still believe it is more appropriate to retain the species in the genus ''Alca''.{{refn|name=Fuller2003|{{cite book |last=Fuller |first=Errol |author-link=Errol Fuller |title=The Great Auk: The Extinction of the Original Penguin |publisher=Bunker Hill Publishing |year=2003 |page=34 |orig-year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35rGM50pAoAC |isbn=978-1-59373-003-1}} see also Fuller (1999).<ref name=Fuller_1999>{{cite book |last=Fuller |first=Errol |author-link=Errol Fuller |title=The Great Auk |place=Southborough, Kent, UK |publisher=Privately Published |year=1999 |isbn=0-9533553-0-6}}</ref>}} It is the only recorded British bird made extinct in historic times.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Bourne |first1=W.R.P. |title=The story of the Great Auk ''Pinguinis impennis'' |doi=10.3366/anh.1993.20.2.257 |journal=Archives of Natural History |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=257–278 |year=1993}}</ref>
[[File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.110104 - Pinguinus impennis Linnaeus, 1758 - Alca torda Linnaeus, 1758 - Great Auk - Razorbill - specimen - video.webm|upright|thumbtime=0:00|thumb|alt=A large, stuffed bird with a black back, white belly, heavy bill, and white eye patch.|Turnaround video of Specimen No.&nbsp;57 and a [[razorbill]], [[Naturalis Biodiversity Center]]]]
The following [[cladogram]] shows the placement of the great auk among its closest relatives, based on a 2004 genetic study:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=G.H. |last2=Wills |first2=M.A. |last3=Székely |first3=T.S. |year=2004 |title=A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=4 |pages=28 |pmid=15329156 |pmc=515296 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
{{clade| style=font-size:100%; line-height:100%
|1={{clade
 |1={{clade
  |1=''[[Alle alle]]'' (little auk)
  |2={{clade
   |1={{clade
    |1=''[[Uria aalge]]'' (common murre)
    |2=''[[Uria lomvia]]'' (thick-billed murre)}}
   |2={{clade
    |1=''[[Alca torda]]'' (razorbill)
    |2='''''Pinguinus impennis''''' ('''great auk''') }} }} }}
 |2={{clade
  |1={{clade
   |1=''[[Brachyramphus marmoratus]]'' (marbled murrelet)
   |2=''[[Brachyramphus brevirostris]]'' (Kittlitz's murrelet)}}
  |2={{clade
   |1=''[[Cepphus grylle]]'' (black guillemot)
   |2={{clade
    |1=''[[Cepphus columba]]'' (pigeon guillemot)
    |2=''[[Cepphus carbo]]'' (spectacled guillemot)}} }} }} }} }}
''Pinguinus alfrednewtoni'' was a larger, and also flightless, member of the genus ''Pinguinus'' that lived during the Early [[Pliocene]].<ref name="Olson">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Olson |first1=Storrs L. |author1-link=Storrs L. Olson |first2=Pamela C. |last2=Rasmussen |author2-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen |editor-last=Ray |editor-first=Clayton E. |title=Miocene and Pliocene Birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina |encyclopedia=Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology |volume=90 |page=279 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |location=Washington, DC |year=2001 |url=http://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/handle/10088/2006 |access-date=11 May 2010 |archive-date=27 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227010310/http://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/handle/10088/2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Known from bones found in the [[Yorktown Formation]] of the Lee Creek Mine in [[North Carolina]], it is believed to have split, along with the great auk, from a common ancestor. ''Pinguinus alfrednewtoni'' lived in the western Atlantic, while the great auk lived in the eastern Atlantic. After the former died out following the Pliocene, the great auk took over its territory.<ref name="Olson"/> The great auk was not related closely to the other extinct genera of flightless alcids, ''[[Mancalla]]'', ''[[Praemancalla]]'', and ''[[Alcodes]]''.<ref name="BNASystematics"/>

===Etymology===
[[File:Great Auk Thomas Bewick 1804.jpg|thumb|upright|The "Great Auk, Northern Penguin, or Gair-Fowl", [[wood engraving]] by [[Thomas Bewick]] in ''[[A History of British Birds]]'', 1804{{efn|Bewick stated "This species is not numerous any where: it inhabits Norway, Iceland, The Ferro Islands, Greenland, and other cold regions of the north, but is seldom seen on the British shores."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bewick |first1=Thomas |title=A History of British Birds |series=Vol. 2: Water Birds |date=1847 |orig-year=1804 |publisher=R.E. Bewick |location=Newcastle |pages=405–406}}</ref>}}]]
The great auk was one of the 4,400 animal species formally described by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in his eighteenth-century work ''[[10th edition of Systema Naturae|Systema Naturae]]'', in which it was given the binomial ''Alca impennis''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Linnaeus |first=C. |author-link=Carl Linnaeus| title=Systema naturae| volume=I| page=130 |publisher=Lars Salvius |location=Stockholm |year=1758 |language=la}}</ref> The name ''Alca'' is a Latin derivative of the Scandinavian word for razorbills and their relatives.<ref name="Johnsgard"/> The bird was known in literature even before this and was described by [[Carolus Clusius|Charles d'Ecluse]] in 1605 as ''Mergus Americanus.'' This also included a woodcut which represents the oldest unambiguous visual depictions of the bird.<ref name=LozoyaGarcía2016>{{cite journal |last1=Lozoya |first1=Arturo Valledor De |last2=García |first2=David González |last3=Parish|first3=Jolyon |date=2016-04-01 |title=A great auk for the Sun King |journal=Archives of Natural History |language=en |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=41–56 |doi=10.3366/anh.2016.0345}}</ref>

The species was not placed in its own scientific [[genus]], ''Pinguinus'', until 1791.<ref name="Gaskell" /> The generic name is derived from the Spanish, Portuguese and French name for the species, in turn from Latin {{Lang|la|pinguis}} meaning "plump", and the [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]], ''impennis'', is from [[Latin]] and refers to the lack of [[flight feather]]s, or ''pennae''.<ref name="Johnsgard">{{cite book |last=Johnsgard |first=Paul A. |author-link=Paul Johnsgard |title=Diving Birds of North America |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |year=1987 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/divingbirdsofnor0000john/page/265 265–266] |isbn=0-8032-2566-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/divingbirdsofnor0000john/page/265 |access-date=11 May 2010 |url-access=registration }}</ref>

The [[Irish language|Irish]] name for the great auk is {{Lang|ga|falcóg mhór}}, meaning "big seabird/auk". The [[Basque language|Basque]] name is ''{{Lang|eu|arponaz}}'', meaning "spearbill". Its early [[French language|French]] name was ''apponatz'', while modern French uses ''{{Lang|fr|grand pingouin}}''. The [[Vikings|Norse]] called the great auk ''geirfugl'', which means "spearbird". This has led to an alternative English common name for the bird, ''garefowl'' or ''gairfowl''.<ref name=Cokinos2000>{{cite book |last=Cokinos |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Cokinos |title=Hope is the Thing with Feathers: A personal chronicle of vanished birds |place=New York |publisher=Warner Books |year=2000 |isbn=0-446-67749-3}}</ref>{{rp|page=333}} The [[Inuit]] name for the great auk was ''isarukitsok'', which meant "little wing".<ref name=Cokinos2000/>{{rp|page=314}}

The word "penguin" first appears in the sixteenth century as a synonym for "great auk".<ref name="CNRTL">{{cite web|url=http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/pingouin |title=Pingouin: Etymologie de Pingouin |publisher=Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales|access-date=25 January 2010}}</ref> Although the etymology is debated, the generic name "penguin" may be derived from the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''pen gwyn'' "white head", either because the birds lived in New Brunswick on [[White Head Island]] (Pen Gwyn in Welsh) or because the great auk had such large white circles on its head. When European explorers discovered what today are known as [[penguin]]s in the Southern Hemisphere, they noticed their [[convergent evolution|similar appearance]] to the great auk and named them after this bird, although biologically, they are not closely related.<ref name=Crofford_1989>{{cite book |last=Crofford |first=Emily |title=Gone Forever: The Great Auk |place=New York |publisher=Crestwood House |year=1989 |isbn=0-89686-459-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greatauk0000crof}}</ref>{{rp|page=10}} [[Whaling|Whalers]] also lumped the northern and southern birds together under the common name "woggins".<ref name="Giaimo">{{cite web
 | url =http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whats-a-woggin-a-bird-a-word-and-a-linguistic-mystery
 | title =What's A Woggin? A Bird, a Word, and a Linguistic Mystery
 | last =Giaimo
 | first =Cara
 | date =26 October 2016
 | website =[[Atlas Obscura]]
 | access-date =2 December 2016
 | quote =Whalers wrote about woggins all the time. What in the world were they?}}</ref>