''Archaeospheniscus lowei'' is the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of the extinct

penguin Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

''Archaeospheniscus''. It stood approximately 85–115 cm high, between a modern

king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies: ''A. p. patagonicus'' and ''A. p. halli''; ''patagonicus'' i ...

and an

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') 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 length and weighing from . Feathers of ...

in size. It is known from bones of a single individual (

Otago Museum Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...

C.47.20) and possibly some additional material such as the OM C.47.27

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...

, all recovered from the Late

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

Kokoamu Greensand Formation (27-28 MYA) at Duntroon, New Zealand. The species' binomen was given in honor of

Percy Lowe Percy Roycroft Lowe (2 January 1870 – 18 August 1948) was an English surgeon and ornithologist. Life Lowe was born at Stamford, Lincolnshire and studied medicine at Jesus College, Cambridge. He served as a civil surgeon in the Second Boe ...

, who researched prehistoric penguins and proposed a theory (now considered erroneous) that these birds were derived from reptiles independently of the other modern birds.

References

* Marples, Brian J. (1952): Early Tertiary penguins of New Zealand. ''New Zealand Geol. Surv., Paleont. Bull.'' 20: 1-66. * Simpson, George Gaylord (1971): A review of the pre-Pleistocene penguins of New Zealand. ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 144: 319–378
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q3621461 Archaeospheniscus Extinct birds of New Zealand Extinct penguins Oligocene birds Taxa named by Brian John Marples