Paraptenodytes

Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAR : Paraptenodytes

Paraptenodytes is an extinct genus of penguins which contains two or three species sized between a Magellanic Penguin and a small Emperor Penguin (P. antarcticus). They are known from fossil bones of a number between a partial skeleton and some additional material in the case of P. antarcticus and a single humerus in the case of Paraptenodytes brodkorbi. The latter species is therefore often considered invalid. The fossils were found in the Santa Cruz and Chubut Provinces of Patagonia, Argentina, in Patagonian Molasse Formation rocks of Early Miocene age.

Together with the related genus Arthrodytes, they form the subfamily Paraptenodytinae.

References

Ameghino, Florentino (1891): Enumeración de las aves fósiles de la Repúiblica Argentina. Rev. Argentina Hist. Nat. 1: 441-445.
Simpson, George Gaylord (1946): Fossil penguins. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 87: 7-99. [PDF fulltext]
Simpson, George Gaylord (1971): Conspectus of Patagonian fossil penguins. American Museum novitates 2488: 1-37. [PDF fulltext]

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