Paraptenodytes

Paraptenodytes is an extinct genus of penguins which contains two or three species sized between a Magellanic penguin and an emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri). They are known from fossil bones ranging from a partial skeleton and some additional material in the case of P. antarcticus, the type specimen for the genus, and a single humerus in the case of P. brodkorbi. The latter species is therefore often considered invalid; a recent study[1] considers it indeed valid, but distinct enough not to belong into Paraptenodytes. The fossils were found in the Santa Cruz and Chubut Provinces of Patagonia, Argentina, in the Gaiman, Monte León and Santa Cruz Formations of Early to Middle Miocene age.[2] Later occurrences are apparently from Late Miocene or possibly even Early Pliocene deposits.[3]

Paraptenodytes
Temporal range: Early-Mid Miocene (Colhuehuapian-Laventan) possibly to Pliocene
~20.43–11.6 Ma
Cast of the specimen AMNH3338 of P. antarcticus, in the Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio in Trelew, Argentina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Sphenisciformes
Family: Spheniscidae
Subfamily: †Paraptenodytinae
Genus: †Paraptenodytes
Ameghino, 1891
Species
Synonyms
  • Metancylornis Ameghino 1905
  • Isotremornis Ameghino 1905
  • Treleudytes Ameghino 1905

Together with the related genus Arthrodytes, they form the subfamily Paraptenodytinae, which is not an ancestor of modern penguins.[1]

References
  1. Bertelli et al. (2006)
  2. Paraptenodytes at Fossilworks.org
  3. Stucchi et al. (2003)

Bibliography
  • Bertelli, Sara; Giannini, Norberto P. & Ksepka, Daniel T. (2006): Redescription and Phylogenetic Position of the Early Miocene Penguin Paraptenodytes antarcticus from Patagonia. American Museum Novitates 3525: 1-36. DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3525[1:RAPPOT]2.0.CO;2 PDF fulltext
  • Stucchi, Marcelo; Urbina, Mario & Giraldo, Alfredo (2003): Una nueva especie de Spheniscidae del Mioceno Tardío de la Formación Pisco, Perú. Bulletin Institut Français d'Études Andines 32(2): 361–375. PDF fulltext

Further reading
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