''Anthropornis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

giant penguin Palaeeudyptinae, the giant penguins, is a paraphyly, paraphyletic subfamily of prehistoric penguins. It includes several genus, genera of medium-sized to very large species, such as ''Icadyptes, Icadyptes salasi'', ''Palaeeudyptes marplesi'', ''Ant ...

that lived 45-33 million years ago, during the

Late Eocene The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...

and the earliest part of the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

.Myrcha, A., Jadwiszczak, P., Tambussi, C.P., Noriega, J.I., Gazdzicki, A., Tatur, A., and Valle, R.A. (2002). "Taxonomic Revision of Eocene Antarctic Penguins Based on Tarsometatarsal Morphology". ''Polish Polar Research'', 23(1): 5-46

Description

''Anthropornis'' reached in length from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail, and in weight, making it the largest penguin of the Eocene epoch. There is also an estimate that one specimen of ''Anthropornis'' could have reached a body length of and in weight. Fossils of it have been found in the

La Meseta Formation The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during much of the Paleogene on Seymour Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is noted for its fossils, which include both marine organisms and the only terrestrial vertebr ...

Seymour Island Seymour Island or Marambio Island, is an island in the chain of 16 major islands around the tip of the Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. It lies within the section of the isl ...

off the coast of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

and in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. By comparison, the largest modern penguin species, the

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...

, is just long. The type species, ''Anthropornis nordenskjoldi'', had a bent joint in the wing, probably a

vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

trait from its flying ancestors.

References

Prehistoric bird genera Eocene birds Oligocene birds Extinct penguins Priabonian genus first appearances Rupelian genus extinctions Prehistoric birds of Antarctica Paleogene Antarctica Fossils of Antarctica Fossil taxa described in 1905 Fossils of New Zealand {{Sphenisciformes-stub