Top Results for Oligocene

Aetiocetus weltoni is an extinct species of baleen whale from the late Oligocene epoch. Fossils of this mysticete have been discovered in marine deposits in Oregon, USA, specifically within the Yaquina Formation. It represents a crucial transitional form in cetacean evolution, possessing both functi...

Toadstool Geologic Park is a protected badlands area located in the Oglala National Grassland of northwestern Nebraska. The park is notable for its unusual geological formations, particularly large, mushroom-shaped hoodoos created by the differential erosion of ancient river sediments and volcanic a...

Mammalodon colliveri is an extinct toothed mysticete whale from early Oligocene deposits of Victoria, Australia, first described by Nicholas Pledge in 1983. It is among the earliest known baleen whale relatives recovered from the Southern Hemisphere. The species was small, with an estimated body len...

Platydyptes marplesi is an extinct species of penguin from the Late Oligocene fossil record of New Zealand. It belongs to Platydyptes, a fossil penguin genus endemic to Zealandia, and is known from skeletal fossils used to study the form and evolution of the penguin wing. The species was named from...

Jingu Guyot is a flat-topped underwater volcano (guyot) located in the Pacific Ocean as part of the Emperor Seamount chain. It formed approximately 55 million years ago during the Paleocene to Eocene epochs, making it one of the older seamounts in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain that stretches a...

Kairuku waewaeroa is an extinct species of giant penguin known from Oligocene rocks in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It was described in 2021 from fossil material and assigned to the genus Kairuku, a group of early penguins with long, slender bodies and limbs. The species is distinguished by th...

Extinct fossil penguin from New Zealand named after palaeontologist Bryan Marples, who made foundational contributions to the study of the country's fossil penguin record.

Kairuku grebneffi is an extinct species of giant penguin known from Oligocene fossils in New Zealand. It lived about 27 million years ago and was described from fossil material found on New Zealand's South Island. The species belongs to Kairuku, a genus of early penguins that were taller and more sl...

Kairuku waitaki is an extinct penguin species from the Oligocene deposits of the Waitaki region on New Zealand’s South Island. It was described in scientific work that also addressed the related species Kairuku grebneffi. The genus Kairuku represents large-bodied fossil penguins, showing that pengui...

Archaeospheniscus lopdelli is an extinct penguin species from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand, known from the Kokoamu Greensand Formation at Duntroon in Otago. Fossil material, including the holotype held by the Otago Museum, indicates a bird about 90 to 120 centimeters tall, somewhat smaller than...

Archaeospheniscus lowei is an extinct penguin species and the type species of the genus Archaeospheniscus. It lived during the Late Oligocene and is known from fossil bones recovered in the Kokoamu Greensand Formation at Duntroon, Otago, New Zealand, about 27 to 28 million years ago. Estimates place...

Platydyptes novaezealandiae is an extinct penguin from late Oligocene to early Miocene deposits in the Oamaru district of Otago, on New Zealand's South Island. Its known type material includes a left humerus, and the species is commonly called the wide-flippered penguin because Platydyptes refers to...

Platydyptes amiesi, known as Amies' penguin, is an extinct penguin from late Oligocene deposits of New Zealand's South Island. It belongs to the genus Platydyptes, whose name refers to the broad, flattened humerus, and comparative studies distinguish the species through differences in wing and flipp...

Korora oliveri, or Oliver's penguin, is an extinct small, slender penguin from the Waitakian Stage of New Zealand, spanning the late Oligocene to early Miocene. It was described from a fossil tarsometatarsus collected in the Hakataramea Valley of South Canterbury, on the South Island, and the genus...

Duntroonornis parvus, or the Duntroon penguin, is an extinct fossil penguin from North Otago on New Zealand's South Island. Brian Marples established the genus in 1952 from a tarsometatarsus found near Duntroon, and the holotype is held by the Otago Museum. The species lived during the Late Oligocen...

Tereingaornis moisleyi is the name originally assigned to a fossil penguin from the Pliocene of New Zealand. William Moisley found the first specimen near Te Reinga Falls on the Wairoa River in Hawke's Bay in 1973, and Ron Scarlett described it in 1983; later material was reported from Hawera, Taran...