Archaeospheniscus lowei

Lowe's penguin
Temporal range: Late Oligocene 28–27Ma
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Sphenisciformes
Family: Spheniscidae
Genus: Archaeospheniscus
Species: A. lowei
Binomial name
Archaeospheniscus lowei
Marples, 1952

Lowe's penguin (Archaeospheniscus lowei) is the type species of the extinct penguin genus Archaeospheniscus. It stood approximately 85-115 cm high, between a modern king penguin and an emperor penguin in size. It is known from bones of a single individual (Otago Museum C.47.20) and possibly some additional material such as the OM C.47.27 femur, all recovered from the Late Oligocene Kokoamu Greensand Formation (27-28 MYA) at Duntroon, New Zealand.

The species' binomen was given in honor of Percy Lowe, who researched prehistoric penguins and proposed a theory (now considered erroneous) that these birds were derived from reptiles independently of the other modern birds.

References