Paraptenodytes brodkorbi

Taxobox
name = "Paraptenodytes brodkorbi"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Early Miocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Sphenisciformes
familia = Spheniscidae
subfamilia = Paraptenodytinae
genus = "Paraptenodytes"
species = "P. brodkorbi"
binomial = "Paraptenodytes brodkorbi"
binomial_authority = Simpson, 1972
synonyms =
*"Isotremornis nordenskjöldi" ("partim") Ameghino, 1905

"Paraptenodytes brodkorbi" is a proposed, but possibly invalid, species of extinct penguin. The bird was probably about the size of an King Penguin.

Known material is limited to a single humerus, Early Miocene in age, found in the Patagonian Molasse Formation near Puerto San Julián in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It exists as an unnumbered specimen in the collection of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.

This taxon is the product of a nomenclatorial dispute. Florentino Ameghino in 1905 described some penguin bones which he though to be specifically distinct as "Isotremornis nordenskjöldi": a tarsometatarsus, a humerus, and a part of a femur. Subsequently, the tarsometatarsus and the femur piece turned out to be from "Paraptenodytes antarcticus". George Gaylord Simpson (1946) and Pierce Brodkorb (1963) argued about whether the bones could all be considered syntypes or whether only the wrongly assigned tarsometatarsus was designated as the holotype. Brodkorb argued for the latter, and Simpson "reluctantly" agreed; "Isotremornis nordenskjöldi" became a junior synonym of "P. antarcticus". Thus, another name had to be given - and added to the already long and confusing list of valid and invalid fossil penguin taxa - to the distinct humerus of the new species Ameghino had thought he described. Tongue-in-cheek, Simpson (1972) dedicated the new binomen to Brodkorb. Acosta Hospitaleche (2005) considered the humerus to be assignable to "Paraptenodytes robustus"; Bertelli "et al." (2006) disagree, but believe that it belongs into a different genus.

References

* Acosta Hospitaleche, Carolina (2005): Systematic revision of "Arthrodytes" Ameghino, 1905 (Aves, Spheniscidae) and its assignment to the Paraptenodytinae. "Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte" 2005(7): 404-414.
* 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 [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/5802/1/N3525.pdf PDF fulltext]
* Brodkorb, Pierce (1963): Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). "Bull. Florida State Mus." 7: 179-293. [http://fulltext10.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=feol&idno=UF00001514&format=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]
* Simpson, George Gaylord (1972): Conspectus of Patagonian fossil penguins. "American Museum Novitates" 2488: 1-37. [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/2696/1/N2488.pdf PDF fulltext]