The first record of fossil penguins from East Antarctica

Abstract

This paper presents the first fossil penguin from East Antarctica, and the only one known south of the Antarctic Circle. It is represented by two well-preserved elements of the wing skeleton, humerus and radius, obviously assignable to the extant genus Spheniscus. They were found in the glaciomarine succession of the Fisher Bench Formation (Fisher Massif, Prince Charles Mountains, Mac. Robertson Land), which was dated using Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy to be Late Miocene in age (10.2 Ma). They are only slightly younger than the oldest remains undoubtedly attributable to this taxon. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy indicate diagenetic alteration of the original bone bioapatite under dominantly marine conditions. The Late Miocene was a period of ice margin retreat and marine incursion into the Lambert embayment that followed Middle Miocene cooling of the Antarctic climate. The fossils strongly suggest that variable climatic and environmental conditions in East Antarctica may have been an important factor in the evolution of penguins there during the Neogene.

Novel insights into early neuroanatomical evolution in penguins from the oldest described penguin brain endocast

“…; Jadwiszczak et al. ; Chavez‐Hoffmeister, ). Within the course of their evolution, penguins underwent a radical shift in locomotor ecology from using the wing in aerial locomotion to the loss of aerial flight and cooption of the flight stroke for deep‐diving behaviors (Simpson, ).…”

“…Penguins in particular have provided a greater sample of brain endocasts than most lineages due to a robust fossil record that was the focus of considerable recent research (e.g. Clarke et al 2003Clarke et al , 2007Clarke et al , 2010Tambussi et al 2005Tambussi et al , 2015Slack et al 2006;Acosta Hospitaleche et al 2007;Fordyce & Thomas, 2011;Ksepka et al 2012;Jadwiszczak et al 2013;Chavez-Hoffmeister, 2014). Within the course of their evolution, penguins underwent a radical shift in locomotor ecology from using the wing in aerial locomotion to the loss of aerial flight and cooption of the flight stroke for deep-diving behaviors (Simpson, 1946).…”

Evidence of preserved collagen in an Early Jurassic sauropodomorph dinosaur revealed by synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy

“…In order to exclude the possibility of external contamination of the fossil material, in particular from the demineralization process, in situ investigation of organic remains within the adult Lufengosaurus bones was undertaken using thin sections. FTIR spectroscopy is a state-of-the-art technique and non-destructive analysis method for identifying the vibrational motions of chemical bonding of molecular structures based on the characteristic infrared absorption bands in the mid-infrared range, associated with the various functional groups especially for organic molecules including proteins 9 10 11 12 13 . Typically, the organic remains within fossils are rare and would likely be distributed within a tiny space at the micrometre scale.…”

New Miocene Fossils and the History of Penguins in Australia

“…This now means that the oldest reported crown group penguin fossils are a humerus and a radius dated to 10.2 Ma and assigned to Spheniscus sp. from East Antarctica [ 18 ] and Madrynornis mirandus from the Puerto Madryn Formation of Argentina (10.0 ± 0.3 Ma)[ 5 ].…”