A review of Australian fossil penguins (Aves: Sphenisciformes)
Author
Park, Travis
Author
Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.
text
Memoirs of Museum Victoria
2012
2012-12-31
69
309
325
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-69-2012/pages-309-325/
journal article
10.24199/j.mmv.2012.69.06
1447-2554
12212344
Pachydyptes simpsoni
Jenkins, 1974
Holotype
.
Partial skeleton (
SAM
P14157
) consisting of: a partial left coracoid; partial right humerus; partial left humerus; a right radius; a partial left carpometacarpus; a left phalanx II- 1; and a partial vertebra. (
Fig. 4
;
Table 2
).
Type locality
.
Blanche Point
,
37 km
SSW of Adelaide
,
South Australia
(
35°14'S
,
138°27'E
)
.
Horizon and age
. Occurs in the Gull Rock Member and the Tuketja Member of the Blanche Point Formation. The Gull Rock Member consists of green and grey, glauconitic and fossiliferous calcareous mudstone with a few limestone lenses; the Tuketja Member consists of alternating bands of tough, dark grey chert and friable clays, silts and calcareous clays (
Jenkins et al., 1982
). Both members are in the P15 foraminiferal zone; Late Eocene (Bartonian–Priabonian), 36.5–38.0 Ma (
James and Bone, 2000
).
Referred material.
A partial right humerus (
SAM
P14158a) (
Fig. 5
), a partial right radius (
SAM
P14158b) (
Fig. 5
) and a rib fragment (
SAM
P17913). (
Table 2
)
Diagnosis.
Following
Marples (1952)
, the generic diagnosis of
Pachydyptes
is as follows: humerus relatively wide; m. deltoideus minor insertion (referred to as the ‘external tuberosity’ by
Marples, 1952
) projects distally; articular surface flattened; fossa pneumotricipitalis undivided; m. supracoracoideus insertion slightly oblique, almost parallel to long axis of shaft and widely separated from the m. latissimus dorsi insertion; shaft has slight sigmoid curve and slight angulation of the cranial border; angle between long axis of shaft and tangent of condylus dorsalis and condylus ventralis is acute; shelf adjacent to condylus ventralis approximately the same width as condylus ventralis; and coracoid convex at base. Following
Jenkins (1974)
,
Pachydyptes simpsoni
differs from
Pachydyptes ponderosus
Oliver, 1930
by having: more concave medial margin of the coracoid; more pronounced angulation of the cranial margin of the humerus (referred to as the “preaxial tuberosity on the shaft at the proximal limit of attachment of brachialis internus” by
Jenkins, 1974
); more widely separated insertions of the musculi supracoracoideus and the musculi coracobrachialis caudalis (referred to as the pectoralis secundus and pectoralis tertius respectively by
Jenkins, 1974
); metacarpal III extends further distally than metacarpal II; and the bones are generally less robust.
Figure 8.
Sphenisciformes
indet. partial right humerus, SAM P10863: A, dorsal view; B, ventral view.
Figure 9.
Sphenisciformes
indet. partial left femur, SAM P10870: A, dorsal view; B, ventral view.
Remarks.
The referred humerus (
SAM
P14158a) is similar to
Pachydyptes ponderosus
with its large head, expanded muscle attachments and wide shaft. The skeleton however is overall less robust than
P. ponderosus
and the overall morphology of the coracoid, radius and carpometacarpus shows similarities to
Anthropornis
and
Palaeeudyptes
(
Jenkins, 1974
)
. The coracoid has a broadly flared base and an oval foramen nervi supracoracoidei. On the radius, the insertion site of the m. brachialis is hollowed, forming a distinct notch similar to that of
Paraptenodytes robustus
Ameghino, 1905
, although the bone itself resembles that of
Palaeeudyptes
and
Anthropornis
(
Jenkins, 1974
)
. Systematic revisions of
Pachydyptes simpsoni
have seen it first synonymised with
Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi
(
Jenkins, 1985
)
, and most recently considered as
Sphenisciformes
indet. (Ksepka and
Clarke, 2010
). The latter authors concluded that it occupied a more crownward position than Antarctic
A. nordenskjoeldi
specimens. We therefore consider the systematics of
P. simpsoni
to be unresolved.