Fairy Penguin

Open encyclopedia reference

The little penguin (Eudyptula minor) is the smallest species of penguin in the world, and originates from New Zealand and Australia. It is commonly known as the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, or blue penguin, owing to its slate-blue plumage, and is also known by its Māori name kororā. It is a marine neritic species that dives for food throughout the day and returns to burrows on the shore at dusk. Eudyptula minor feathers are dense in melanosomes, which increase water resistance and give them their unique blue colour.

The Australian little penguin (Eudyptula novaehollandiae), from Australia and the Otago region of New Zealand, was initially described as Spheniscus novaehollandiae in 1826 but was later classified as Eudyptula minor novaehollandiae, a subspecies of the little penguin.

Wikipedia contributors, Little penguin; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:21:43.865191+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Eudyptula minor (J. R. Forster, 1781)

Name authority

(J. R. Forster, 1781)

Common name

Fairy Penguin

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Sphenisciformes

Family

Spheniscidae

Genus

Eudyptula

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderSphenisciformes
10. familySpheniscidae Bonaparte, 1831
11. genusEudyptula Bonaparte, 1856
12. speciesEudyptula minor (J. R. Forster, 1781)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 14 records assigned to Spheniscidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174460 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:6H8KC. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.