Icadyptes salasi

Icadyptes salasi
Icadyptes salasi , graphic reconstruction
Temporal occurrence
Eocene ( Priabonian )
37.2 to 33.9 million years
Locations
Peru , Ica Province
Systematics
Birds (aves) Penguins (Sphenisciformes) Incertae sedis Icadyptes Icadyptes salasi
Scientific name
Icadyptes
Clarke et al., 2007
Scientific name
Icadyptes salasi
Clarke et al., 2007

Icadyptes salasi is the largest knownspecies of penguin in America, the fossils of which were found by researchers at the North Carolina State University Raleigh on the south coast of present-day Peru , in the province of Ica . Icadyptes lived 36 million years ago, was 1.50 m high and had a 20 cm long, dagger-like beak, which it used to hunt fish. Larger fossil giant penguins have only been found in New Zealand and Australia ( Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi and Pachydyptes ponderosus ).

Contrary to the previous theory that penguins originate from the Antarctic region and from there - less than 10 million years ago - spread northwards, the findings from the equatorial area refute the fact that the large birds were 30 million years earlier than assumed not far from the equator lived. In addition to Icadyptes , a species that was only half as large, the Perudyptes devriesi, was found in Peru, which must have lived 42 million years ago.

The name of the extinct animal is composed of the place where it was found (Ica) and the Greek word for "diver" (dyptes) . The addition salasi is a tribute to the Peruvian paleontologist Rodolfo Salas .

Web links

• Wissenschaft.de
• sueddeutsche.de
• stern.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Clarke, Julia A. (North Carolina State University); Daniel T. Ksepka, Marcelo Stucchi, Mario Urbina, Norberto Giannini, Sara Bertelli, Yanina Narváez, Clint A. Boyd: “ Paleogene equatorial penguins challenge the proposed relationship between penguin biogeography, body size evolution, and Cenozoic climate change. " In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (June 29, 2007)