Palaeeudyptes gunnari
Palaeeudyptes gunnari Temporal range:
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Sphenisciformes |
Family: | Spheniscidae |
Genus: | †Palaeeudyptes |
Species: | †P. gunnari
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Binomial name | |
†Palaeeudyptes gunnari (Wiman, 1905)
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Synonyms | |
Eosphaeniscus gunnari Wiman, 1905 |
Palaeeudyptes gunnari is an extinct species of the extinct penguin genus Palaeeudyptes. It was a bit smaller than its congener Palaeeudyptes antarcticus of New Zealand, standing between 110 and 125 cm high, approximately the size of the emperor penguin. It is known from dozens of fossil bones from Middle or Late Eocene strata (34-50 MYA) of the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. Initially, it was described as a separate genus, Eosphaeniscus. However, this was based on a single weathered and broken tarsometatarsus. Better material recovered later showed that the species belongs into the present genus.
is probably a synonym of this species (Jadwiszcak, 2006).
References[]
- Jadwiszczak, Piotr (2006). "Eocene penguins of Seymour Island, Antarctica: Taxonomy" (PDF). Polish Polar Research. 27 (1): 3–62.
- Myrcha, Andrzej; Jadwiszczak, Piotr; Tambussi, Claudia P.; Noriega, Jorge I.; Gaździcki, Andrzej; Tatur, Andrzej & Del Valle, Rodolfo A. (2002): Taxonomic revision of Eocene Antarctic penguins based on tarsometatarsal morphology. Polish Polar Research 23(1): 5–46. PDf fulltext
- Simpson, George Gaylord (1946): Fossil penguins. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 87: 7-99. PDF fulltext
- Wiman, Carl (1905): Vorläufige Mitteilung über die alttertiären Vertebraten der Seymourinsel. Bulletin of the Geological Institute of Uppsala 6: 247–253. [Article in German]
Categories:
- Palaeeudyptes
- Eocene birds
- Extinct penguins
- Cenozoic Antarctica
- Cenozoic animals of Oceania
- Extinct animals of Antarctica
- Extinct birds of New Zealand
- Cenozoic animals of Antarctica
- Taxa named by Carl Wiman
- Fossil taxa described in 1905