Perudyptes devriesi

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Perudyptes devriesi
Temporal occurrence
Eocene ( Lutetium )
48.6 to 40.4 million years
Locations
Systematics
Birds (aves)
Penguins (Sphenisciformes)
Penguins (Spheniscidae)
Perudyptes
Perudyptes devriesi
Scientific name
Perudyptes
Clarke et al., 2007
Scientific name
Perudyptes devriesi
Clarke et al., 2007

Perudyptes devriesi is an extinct species of penguins (Sphenisciformes) from the Palaeogene of South America. The species is the type species of the genus Perudyptes .

The penguin reached a size between 75 and 90 cm, which is roughly the size of today's king penguin . It lived in the Middle Eocene about 42 million years ago on the south coast of today's Peru in the province of Ica and was scientifically described in 2007 by a group of researchers led by Julia A. Clarke from North Carolina State University .

The excavation revealed the skull , lower jaw , cervical vertebrae , ribs , humerus , a bone from the left hand, parts of the sacrum , a femur , the right tibia, and a bone from the left foot.

The name of the bird is composed of the place where it was found (Peru) and the Greek word for "diver" dyptes . The species epithet “devriesi” is a tribute to the American paleontologist Thomas DeVries.

Classification and significance of the find

In the same publication from June 2007, the research group around Clarke described another species of penguin from Ica, Icadyptes salasi , which, however, is about six million years younger and about twice its size. Both finds, which are among the best preserved penguin fossils from the paleogene, refute the previous hypothesis that the penguins (Sphenisciformes) originated in the higher southern latitudes and settled in the equatorial areas four to eight million years ago in the course of global climate cooling . In fact, these animals migrated there 30 million years earlier than previously assumed, during one of the warmest climates of the Cenozoic . A comprehensive cladistic analysis, based on both morphological and molecular biological data, places both species outside the line that leads to the recent penguins (Spheniscidae).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Penguin in large format. In: Wissenschaft.de. June 26, 2007, accessed September 8, 2019 .
  2. ^ 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)

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