''Icadyptes'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of giant penguins from the

Late Eocene The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...

tropics of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Etymology

The genus name is a combination of "''Ica''" for the Peruvian region where the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

was found and "dyptes" from the Greek word for diver. The species

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

"salasi" refers to Rodolfo Salas Gismondi, a noted Peruvian paleontologist.

Description

Comparing its

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

length to previously estimated standing height of '' Anthropornis'' () and ''

Palaeeudyptes ''Palaeeudyptes'' is an extinct genus of large penguins, currently containing four accepted species. They were probably larger than almost all living penguins, with the smaller species being about the size of an emperor penguin, and the largest s ...

'' (), standing height of ''Icadyptes'' is estimated at . However, according to original research including data of "standing height" of these two taxa that referred in description are actually showing body length (length between tip of beak and tip of tail, see

bird measurement Bird measurement or bird biometrics are approaches to quantify the size of birds in scientific studies. The variation in dimensions and weights across birds is one of the fundamental sources of diversity among birds, and even Within species, dimen ...

), not standing height. Body length and standing height of penguins are often confused even in scientific reports. It had an exceptionally long spear-like beak resembling that of a

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

. The researchers who discovered the penguins believe the long, pointed beaks to be the likely ancestral shape for all penguins.

Discovery

The fossilised remains of the penguin, which lived approximately 36 million years ago, were found in the Otuma Formation,''Icadyptes''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

.org in the coastal desert of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

by the team of

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Dr. Julia Clarke, assistant professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences. Its well-preserved

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

skeleton was found on the southern coast of Peru together with an early Eocene species '' Perudyptes devriesi'' (comparable in size to the living

King penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller than but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid, and krill. On foraging trips, king pen ...

), and the remains of three other previously undescribed penguin species, all of which seem to have preferred the tropics over colder latitudes.

Evolution

''Icadyptes salasi'' and ''Perudyptes devriesi'' appear to have flourished at warmer latitudes at a time when world temperatures were at their warmest over the past 65 million years. Only a few modern-day penguins, such as the African and Galapagos penguins prefer such a balmy climate. The discovery of the fossils has caused a re-evaluation of penguin evolution and expansion. Previously, scientists believed that penguins evolved near the poles in Antarctica and New Zealand, and moved closer to the equator around 10 million years ago. Since ''Icadyptes salasi'' lived in Peru during a period of great warmth, penguins must have adapted to warm climates around 30 million years earlier than previously believed.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q135313 Sphenisciformes Extinct penguins Eocene birds of South America Tinguirirican Divisaderan Paleogene Peru Fossils of Peru Fossil taxa described in 2007