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Pachydyptes is an extinct genus of penguin. It contains the single species Pachydyptes ponderosus, the New Zealand Giant Penguin. This taxon is known from a few bones from Late Eocene (34-37 MYA) rocks in the area of Otago, and a fine specimen found near Kawhia, New Zealand, in January 2006.
With a height of 140-160 cm (c. 5 ft) and weighing around 80, maybe over 100 kg, it was the second-tallest penguin ever, surpassed only by Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi in size, but probably not in weight. As George Gaylord Simpson famously quipped, "''Pachydyptes''' height would not suffice for basketball but their weight was about right for American football."
Pachydyptes
| | Name | Pachydyptes | | Status | fossil | | Fossil Range | Late Eocene | | Regnum | Animalia | | Phylum | Chordata | | Classis | Aves | | Ordo | Sphenisciformes | | Familia | Spheniscidae | | Subfamilia | Palaeeudyptinae | | Genus | Pachydyptes | | Genus Authority | Walter Oliver | | Species | P. ponderosus | | Binomial | Pachydyptes ponderosus | | Binomial Authority | Walter Oliver | | Synonyms | * Palaeeudyptes antarcticus
Hector, 1873 ... |
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