Palaeeudyptes klekowskii

Palaeeudyptes klekowskii is an extinct species of the penguin genus Palaeeudyptes. It was previously thought to have been approximately the size of its congener Palaeeudyptes antarcticus, somewhat larger than the modern emperor penguin, but a 2014 study showed it was in fact almost twice as tall, earning it the nickname “Mega Penguin”. Its maximum length is estimated to be up to 2 m (6.6 ft) and maximum body mass up to 116 kg (256 lb). Knowledge of it comes from an extensive collection of fossil bones from the Late Eocene of the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. P. klekowskii was at first not recognized as a distinct species, and despite the coexistence of two so closely related species of similar size as Palaeeudyptes gunnari and P. klekowskii seeming somewhat improbable, the amount of fossil material suggests that the two species are indeed diagnosably different.

Palaeeudyptes klekowskii

A. C. Tatarinov · CC0 · via Wikidata/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PalaeeudyptesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Sphenisciformes

Time the record covers

At most 7.2 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 41.03 Mya and 33.9 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Eocene — about 6 of 6 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 6 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–35 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–35 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41.5 Mya33.4 Mya

6 occurrences of Palaeeudyptes klekowskii on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

6 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Submeseta — 64.25°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.65°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.65°W

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The named rock units Palaeeudyptes klekowskii has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Palaeeudyptes klekowskii and its relatives

Eocene

Where Palaeeudyptes klekowskii and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

73 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

3 references

Each of the 6 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Palaeeudyptes klekowskii

Credit
A. C. Tatarinov
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPalaeeudyptes through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Myrcha et al. 2002