Palaeeudyptes gunnari

Taxobox
name = "Palaeeudyptes gunnari"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Middle or Late Eocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Aves
ordo = Sphenisciformes
familia = Spheniscidae
genus = "Palaeeudyptes"
species = "P. gunnari"
binomial = "Palaeeudyptes gunnari"
binomial_authority = (Wiman, 1905)
synonyms = "Eosphaeniscus gunnari" Wiman, 1905

"Palaeeudyptes gunnari" was a 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 in life, 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.

"Wimanornis" is probably a synonym of this species (Jadwiszcak, 2006).

References

* Jadwiszczak, Piotr (2006): Eocene penguins of Seymour Island, Antarctica: Taxonomy. "Polish Polar Research" 27(1): 3–62. [http://www.polish.polar.pan.pl/ppr27/ppr27-003.pdf PDF fulltext]
* 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. [http://www.polish.polar.pan.pl/ppr23/ppr23-005.pdf PDf fulltext]
* Simpson, George Gaylord (1946): Fossil penguins. "Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist." 87: 7-99. [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/392/1/B087a01.pdf 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]