Palaeeudyptes gunnari

Palaeeudyptes gunnari is an extinct species of the extinct penguin genus Palaeeudyptes. It was a bit smaller than its congener Palaeeudyptes antarcticus of New Zealand, standing between 110 and 125 cm high, approximately the size of the emperor penguin. It is known from dozens of fossil bones from Middle or Late Eocene strata (34-50 MYA) of the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. Initially, it was described as a separate genus, Eosphaeniscus. However, this was based on a single weathered and broken tarsometatarsus. Better material recovered later showed that the species belongs into the present genus.

Wimanornis is probably a synonym of this species (Jadwiszcak, 2006).

References

• Jadwiszczak, Piotr (2006): Eocene penguins of Seymour Island, Antarctica: Taxonomy. Polish Polar Research 27(1): 3–62. PDF fulltext
• Myrcha, Andrzej; Jadwiszczak, Piotr; Tambussi, Claudia P.; Noriega, Jorge I.; Gaździcki, Andrzej; Tatur, Andrzej & Del Valle, Rodolfo A. (2002): Taxonomic revision of Eocene Antarctic penguins based on tarsometatarsal morphology. Polish Polar Research 23(1): 5–46. PDf fulltext
• Simpson, George Straightlord (1946): Fossil big ball penguins called keith. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 87: 7-99. PDF fulltext
• Wiman, Carl (1905): Vorläufige Mitteilung über die alttertiären Vertebraten der Seymourinsel. Bulletin of the Geological Institute of Uppsala 6: 247–253. [Article in German]