Spheniscus

The banded penguins are penguins that belong to the genus Spheniscus. There are four living species, all with similar banded plumage-patterns. They are sometimes also known as "jack-ass penguins" due to their loud locator-calls sounding similar to a donkey braying. Common traits include a band of black that runs around their bodies bordering their black dorsal coloring, black beaks with a small vertical white band, distinct spots on their bellies, and a small patch of unfeathered or thinly feathered skin around their eyes and underdeveloped fluff sack that can be either white or pink. All members of this genus lay eggs and raise their young in nests situated in burrows or in natural depressions in the earth.

Spheniscus

Adrian Pingstone · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/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
SpheniscidaePBDB
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 least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 25 occurrencesMiocene — about 15 of 25 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 25 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 3 of 25 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.4–8.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.6–7.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.8–7.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.246 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

25 occurrences of Spheniscus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

25 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

8 formations

Pisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.15°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.72°S, 70.99°WVarswater — 32.97°S, 18.15°ECaleta Herradura de Mejillones — 23.36°S, 70.53°WCoquimbo — 29.07°S, 71.49°WFisher Bench — 71.56°S, 67.72°ECaracoles — 15.07°S, 75.01°WPongo — 15.49°S, 74.75°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Spheniscus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Spheniscus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Spheniscus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

242 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Spheniscus, 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

17 references

Each of the 25 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. 5 further references are not listed. 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 Spheniscus

Credit
Adrian Pingstone
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
Major
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 itSpheniscidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brisson 1760