Mid-Holocene skua remains from King George Island, Antarctica

2006

Penguin bones from the La Meseta Formation (Seymour Island, Antarctic Penin− sula) are the only record of Eocene Antarctic Sphenisciformes. Being an abundant compo− nent of the youngest unit of the formation (Telm7), they are not so common in earlier strata. Here, I present the oldest penguin remains from the La Meseta Formation (Telm1-Telm2), often bearing close resemblance to their counterparts from younger units. Addressing the recent findings in fossil penguin systematics, I suggest there is too weak a basis for erecting new Eocene Antarctic taxa based on non−tarsometatarsal elements of penguin skeletons, and considering Oligocene species part of the studied assemblage. Finally, I conclude if the common ancestor of extant Sphenisciformes lived in the Eocene Antarctic (as suggested re− cently), penguins referred to Delphinornis seem to be prime candidates to that position. Key wor ds: Antarctica, La Meseta Formation (Eocene), paleontology (penguins), taxon− omy, evolution.

2006

Skeletal remains of penguins from the Eocene La Meseta Formation (Seymour Is− land, Antarctica) constitute the only extensive fossil record of Antarctic Sphenisciformes. No articulated skeletons are known, and almost all fossils occur as single isolated elements. Most of the named species are based on tarsometatarsi (for which the taxonomy was revised in 2002). Here, 694 bones (from the Polish

Antarctic Science- …, 2012

Trace fossils are long known to exist in the Fossil Hill Formation (lower to middle Eocene) at Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. During fieldwork in 2009, abundant new avian tracks were recovered, which are analysed here. Three avian ichnotaxa are distinguished. The most common impressions are tridactyls and tetradactyls with slender digit imprints II-IV and a posterior hallux. They are included in the ichnogenus Gruipeda. In addition tridactyl and tetradactyl footprints with short and thick digit impressions are conferred to Uhangrichnus. The third ichnotaxon is a tridactyl impression with broad and short digits assigned to Avipeda. The latter taxon is here documented for the first time from Antarctica. These avian tracks are preserved in volcaniclastic sediments consisting in reddish-brown layers of mudstone intercalated with coarse sandstone. The sequence represents lacustrine environments which seasonally dried and were episodically refilled.

We excavated active and abandoned Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies at Seymour Island and Hope Bay, Antarctic Peninsula, to determine an occupation history for this species at these sites. Previous research at Hope Bay has indicated an occupation there since the middle Holocene, based on a sediment record from Lake Boeckella. Excavations revealed only shallow and relatively fresh ornithogenic soils in the active colonies at the two localities. At least 53 abandoned pebble mounds were located at Hope Bay of which nine were excavated and four were sampled by probing to recover organic remains to determine their age. Radiocarbon dating of egg membrane, feather, and bone from both sites revealed a young occupation dating to less than *600 years after correcting for the marine carbon reservoir effect. The mismatch in the geologic record of Adélie Penguin occupation in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, including Lake Boeckella sediments and geologic deposits and lake sediments on King George Island, with more direct evidence of breeding colonies from ornithogenic soils from active and abandoned colonies is hereby referred to as the 'northern enigma' as it does not occur in other regions of Antarctica including the southern Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarc-tica, or the Ross Sea, where the penguin record extends to the early to middle Holocene and matches well with the geologic record of deglaciation and penguin occupation. As yet, there is no convincing explanation for the 'northern enigma'.

Antarctic Science, 2002

A 2.7 m thick mid-Holocene sedimentary succession composed of alluvial fan and marine beach deposits is exposed at 14.4–17.1 m above sea level (a.s.l.) on the south-eastern coast of Potter Peninsula, King George Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica). The raised marine beach deposits contain a subfossil assemblage that includes remains of Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and gentoo (P. papua) penguins, skua (Catharacta sp), seals (elephant seal Mirounga sp), and seaweed fragments. The palaeontological and palaeogeographical evidence allows us to infer that penguin rookeries were active on high cliffs of the Potter Peninsula during the marine beach sedimentation, which is dated to c. 4540–4450 reservoir-corrected 14C yr BP on the basis of radiocarbon dating on penguin bones. The data presented in this paper are in agreement with the Holocene palaeoenvironmental chronology known from Potter Peninsula, and suggest that marine birds and seals inhabited the coastal areas of King George I...

Antarctic fossil birds can be confidently assigned to modern orders and families, such as a goose-like anseriform, two loon-like and a seriema-like, all recorded before the K/T boundary at the López de Bertodano Fomation. Also, the discovery of a ratite and a phororhacids from the uppermost levels of the Submeseta Allomember (Late Eocene), suggests that West Antarctica was functional to dispersal routes obligate terrestrial birds. Representatives of Falconiformes Polyborinae, Ciconiiformes, Phoenicoteriformes, Charadriiformes, Pelagornitidae and Diomedeidae constitute the non-penguin avian assemblages of the Eocene of La Meseta Formation. Fifthteen Antarctic species of penguins have been described including the oldest penguin of West Antarctica, Croswallia unienwillia. The Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi Biozone (36.13 and 34.2 Ma, Late Eocene) is characterized by bearing one of the highest frequencies of penguin bones and the phospatic brachiopod Lingula., together with remains of Gadiforms, sharks and primitive mysticete whales. Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi, Delphinornis gracilis, D. arctowski, Archaeospheniscus lopdelli, and Palaeeudyptes antarcticus are exclusively of the La Meseta Formation. Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi was evidently the largest penguin recorded at the James Ross Basin, whereas Delphinornis arctowski is the smallest, and include one of the worldwide highest morphological and taxonomic penguin diversity living sympatrically. The progressive climate cooling of the Eocene could have affected the penguin populations, because of climatic changes linked with habitat availability and food web processes. However, there is not available evidence about Antarctic penguins' evolution after the end of the Eocene.

Palaeontologia Electronica, 2019

Numerous skeletal remains recovered in situ from the late early to middle Paleo-cene Takatika Grit of Chatham Island, New Zealand, are among the oldest known fossils attributed to the penguin clade (Aves, Sphenisciformes). They represent a new medium-sized taxon, for which we erect a new genus and species, and a second, notably larger form. These new penguins are analysed in a parsimony and Bayesian framework using an updated and revised phylogenetic matrix, based on morphological and molecular characters, and interpreted as among the most basal of known sphenisci-forms, closely related to Waimanu. While sharing numerous characteristics with the earliest wing-propelled divers, the novel taxon records the oldest occurrence of the characteristic penguin tarsometatarsus morphology. These ancient Chatham Island representatives add to a growing number and increased morphological diversity of Paleocene penguins in the New Zealand region, suggesting an origin for the group there. With their addition to other Paleocene penguins, these taxa reveal that sphenis-ciforms rapidly diversified as non-volant piscivores in the southern oceans following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. They also provide further evidence for the hypothesis that their origin predates the Paleocene. This implies that stem Sphenisciformes and their sister group, the Procellariiformes, both originated in, and so may be expected to occur in, the Late Cretaceous.

Antarctic Science, 2011

Widely accepted ideas about trophic preferences of early penguins suggest that all Eocene sphenisciforms were piscivorous. However, recent findings from the La Meseta Formation (Eocene) of Antarctica, support the presence of at least two different morphotypes that may have evolved as a niche partitioning strategy, which is consistent with the high diversity recorded. The first of them corresponds to a medium–large sized penguin, resembling the Neogene species in configuration. Another morphotype is represented by extremely large penguins with very long and slender bills, clearly linked to fish catching habits.

Polish Polar Research

Penguin bones from the La Meseta Formation (Seymour Island, Antarctic Penin− sula) are the only record of Eocene Antarctic Sphenisciformes. Being an abundant compo− nent of the youngest unit of the formation (Telm7), they are not so common in earlier strata. Here, I present the oldest penguin remains from the La Meseta Formation (Telm1-Telm2), often bearing close resemblance to their counterparts from younger units. Addressing the recent findings in fossil penguin systematics, I suggest there is too weak a basis for erecting new Eocene Antarctic taxa based on non−tarsometatarsal elements of penguin skeletons, and considering Oligocene species part of the studied assemblage. Finally, I conclude if the common ancestor of extant Sphenisciformes lived in the Eocene Antarctic (as suggested re− cently), penguins referred to Delphinornis seem to be prime candidates to that position.

2007

The identification of several abandoned penguin colonies on Victoria Land coastal areas and more than 200 radiocarbon dates provide a ≈7200-yr spanning Adélie penguin history (> 8000 yr BP considering calibrated dates). These data also supply information about Holocene environmental changes, especially regarding sea-ice extension. Between 5000 and 2500 years BP, Adélie Penguin colonies were more numerous than at present and those presently occupied were more extended (penguin optimum). Between 2300 and 1100 penguin population dramatically decreased in southern Scott Coast and in Terra Nova Bay; sea-ice extension and persistence were reduced due to warmer-than present condition in the Ross Sea. Paleodietary studies also contribute to better define the Holocene environmental picture. Due to ecological competition, variation of fish exploitation respect to krill in Adélie penguin diet seems to reflect sea-ice extension and persistence.