New penguin remains from the Pliocene of Northern Chile

Abstract

Until recently, all described fossil penguin species from South America were recovered from the Atlantic coast. The description of three fossil species of Spheniscus from Peru and Chile now allows a clearer estimate of the historical diversity on the Pacific coast. Here we describe a further new species from a Pliocene level of the Bahía Inglesa Formation, northern Chile. This taxon, the first to be described from this sequence, is based on a partial skeleton lacking a skull. These remains are clearly referable to the living genus Pygoscelis, and share a mosaic of characters with extant species of the genus. Pygoscelis grandis sp. nov. was around the size of a King Penguin, and therefore much larger than any extant Pygoscelis species. Our cladistic analysis places P. grandis within the Pygoscelis clade as the sister taxon of living representatives. Living species of Pygoscelis have a sub-Antarctic distribution, and the presence of this species slightly south of the Tropics during the Pliocene may relate to end Neogene global cooling.

Keywords:

• Spheniscidae
• Pliocene
• South America
• Bahía Inglesa Formation

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Jo Cooper, Robert Prys-Jones and Sandra Chapman (NHM, London) for access to fossil and recent specimens, to Sara Bertelli (AMNH, New York), Ursula Göhlich (Lyon), Steve Emslie (Carolina), Marcelo Stucchi (Lima), Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche (La Plata), Jorge Noriega (LPV, Argentina), Dave Martill, Monja Knoll and Darren Naish (University of Portsmouth) for helpful discussion, and to Guillermo Chong Diaz (UCN, Antofagasta) and Peter Turner (Univ. Birmingham) for logistical help in the field. This study was supported by a University of Portsmouth three year research bursary, and grants from the Percy Sladen Memorial Trust, and John Ray Trust.