Palaeeudyptes antarcticus

Palaeeudyptes antarcticus, also referred to as the narrow-flippered penguin, is the type species of the extinct penguin genus 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 43 and 55 inches high in life, placing this species and its congener Palaeeudyptes marplesi 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.

Palaeeudyptes antarcticus

User AHA on sv.wikipedia · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PalaeeudyptesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sphenisciformes

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 25.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 21.7 Mya.

Eocene — about 2 of 4 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 4 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 4 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences39–39 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41.03 Mya25.2 Mya48.6 Mya21.2 Mya

4 occurrences of Palaeeudyptes antarcticus on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

4 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Ototara Limestone — 45.19°S, 170.88°EConcord — 44.49°S, 170.68°EBurnside — 44.49°S, 170.68°ESubmeseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°W

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The named rock units Palaeeudyptes antarcticus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Palaeeudyptes antarcticus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Palaeeudyptes antarcticus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

7 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Palaeeudyptes antarcticus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

3 references

Each of the 4 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Palaeeudyptes antarcticus

Credit
User AHA on sv.wikipedia
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Palaeeudyptes antarcticus · nhmuk:pal:A 1048

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPalaeeudyptes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Huxley 1859