Inguza

Taxobox
name = "Inguza predemersus"
status = Fossil
fossil_range = Late Pliocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Aves
ordo = Sphenisciformes
familia = Spheniscidae
genus = "Inguza"
species = "I. predemersus"
binomial = "Inguza predemersus"
binomial_authority = (Simpson, 1971)

"Inguza predemersus" is an extinct species of penguin.cite journal |last=Simpson |first=George G. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1971 |month= |title=Fossil Penguin from the Late Cenozoic of South Africa |journal=Science |volume=171 |issue=3976 |pages=1144-1145 |doi=10.1126/science.171.3976.1144 |url= |accessdate= |quote= ] It was formerly placed in the genus "Spheniscus" and presumed to be a close relative of the African Penguin, but after its well-distinct tarsometatarsus was found, it was moved into its present monotypic genus.

What is known from molecular data is that the time at which the present species lived is not too distant from the arrival of the ancestors of the African Penguin on the Atlantic coasts of southern Africa. On the other hand, it may be closer to "Pygoscelis". This would mean that its ancestors diverged from those of the extant "Pygoscelis" most likely at an indeterminate point of time during the Oligocene.cite journal |last=Baker |first=Allan J. |authorlink= |coauthors="et al." |year=2006 |month= |title=Multiple gene evidence for expansion of extant penguins out of Antarctica due to global cooling |journal=Proc. R. Soc. B |volume=273 |issue= |pages=11-17 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2005.3260 |url= |accessdate= |quote= ]

Alternatively, it might not be close to extant penguins (the Spheniscinae), but a late survivor of an extant lineage. This is not very likely given its age — it would be the last known survivor of the non-spheniscine penguins — but as some of these still lived a few million years ago, it cannot be ruled out.

References