Spheniscus chilensis

Spheniscus chilensis is an extinct species of penguin that lived during the Late Pliocene in Chile. The first fossil record of the penguin was discovered on the coast of Antofagasta in 1980, when coastal erosion exposed the first fossilized bone.

Spheniscus chilensis

HannahMoss · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
SpheniscusPBDB
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 1.1 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 3.6 Mya and 2.58 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Pliocene — about 1 of 1 occurrencePliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 1 occurrence3.6–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.2–3.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.2–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1 Mya2.08 Mya

1 occurrence of Spheniscus chilensis on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

1 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

1 formation

Caleta Herradura de Mejillones — 23.36°S, 70.53°W

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

Spheniscus chilensis and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Spheniscus chilensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

16 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Spheniscus chilensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Spheniscus chilensis

Credit
HannahMoss
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Spheniscus chilensis was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itSpheniscus through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Emslie and Correa 2003