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The first record of fossil penguins from East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2012

Piotr Jadwiszczak ,
Krzysztof P. Krajewski ,
Zinaida Pushina ,
Andrzej Tatur  and
Grzegorz Zieliński
Piotr Jadwiszczak*
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology, University of Białystok, Świerkowa 20B, 15-950 Białystok, Poland
Krzysztof P. Krajewski
Affiliation:
Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Research Centre in Warszawa, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland
Zinaida Pushina
Affiliation:
All-Russia Research Institute for Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean (VNIIOkeangeologiya), Angliyskiy Prospekt 1, 190121 St Petersburg, Russia
Andrzej Tatur
Affiliation:
Faculty of Geology, Warsaw University, Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warszawa, Poland
Grzegorz Zieliński
Affiliation:
Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute, Rakowiecka 4, 00-975 Warszawa, Poland
*
piotrj@uwb.edu.pl
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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.

Keywords

bioapatite diagenesisFisher MassifLate MiocenePrince Charles MountainsSpheniscuswing skeleton
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , June 2013 , pp. 397 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012 

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