''Palaeeudyptes antarcticus'', also referred to as the narrow-flippered penguin, 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.
* ...
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of the
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
penguin
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
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 ...
''Palaeeudyptes''. It was a huge species, albeit probably with a large size variation. Although the size range can only be loosely estimated, the birds seem to have stood between high in life (''i.e.'' somewhat larger than an
emperor penguin
The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...
), placing this species and its congener ''
Palaeeudyptes marplesi
Marples' penguin (''Palaeeudyptes marplesi'') was a large species of the extinct penguin genus ''Palaeeudyptes''.
It stood between high in life, larger than the present emperor penguin. The precise relationship between this species and the slig ...
'' among the largest penguin species known. It was the last known ''Palaeeudyptes'' species, and although the exact time when it lived is not precisely determined, it may have evolved from ''P. marplesi'', or they might even have been a single species which slightly decreased in size over time.
''P. antarcticus'' was the first fossil penguin to become known to science. It was described from a single, slightly damaged,
tarsometatarsus
The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is formed from the fusion of several bird bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsus (ankle bones) a ...
(
BM A.1084) found in the Late
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...
Otekaike Limestone (23-28, possibly up to 34
MYA) at
Kakanui
The small town of Kakanui lies on the coast of Otago, in New Zealand, fourteen kilometres to the south of Oamaru. The Kakanui River and its estuary divide the township in two. The part of the settlement south of the river, also known as Kakanui ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. An older date seems quite possible in fact as other bones have now been recovered from the Late
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
(34-37
MYA) of the
La Meseta Formation
The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during much of the Paleogene on Seymour Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is noted for its fossils, which include both marine organisms and the only terrestrial vertebr ...
on
Seymour Island
Seymour Island or Marambio Island, is an island in the chain of 16 major islands around the tip of the Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. It lies within the section of the isl ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
(Tambussi ''et al.'', 2006), but given the considerable distances in age and range involved, it is not completely certain that the bones belong to a single species.
This remains the only
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 ...
unequivocally assigned to this species, but numerous other bones have been found that may belong to it too. These fossils were once uncritically considered as being from ''P. antarcticus'', merely because other large penguins were not known at that time, but have not been subject to scientific review according to modern standards. While some of these bones are now known to belong to other species, a large number are not unequivocally assignable to either ''P. antarcticus'' or ''P. marplesi'', being intermediate in size (Simpson, 1971), lending support to the theory that these taxa were in reality a single species.
References
* Huxley, Thomas Henry (1859): "On a Fossil Bird and a Fossil Cetacean from New Zealand". ''
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London'' 15: 670–677.
* Simpson, George Gaylord (1946): "Fossil Penguins". ''
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 87: 7-99
PDF fulltext* 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
PDF fulltext* Tambussi, C. P.; Acosta Hospitaleche, C. I.; Reguero, M. A. & Marenssi, S. A. (2006): "Late Eocene Penguins from West Antarctica: Systematics and Biostratigraphy". ''
Geological Society, London, Special Publication'' 258: 145–161.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1064965
antarcticus
Oligocene birds
Extinct penguins
Cenozoic Antarctica
Cenozoic animals of Oceania
Extinct animals of Antarctica
Extinct birds of New Zealand
Cenozoic animals of Antarctica