Rosie's penguin was described from a well-preserved partial skeleton recovered from c. 61 million-year-old (mid-Paleocene) marine deposits along the Waipara River, North Canterbury.

The holotype (CM 2016.6.1) is held at Canterbury Museum, and is the best-preserved Paleocene penguin known. It includes the skull (with a long spear-shaped beak) and more than 40 post-cranial bones, including both humeri, both ulnae, both radii, right femur, and parts of both tibiotarsi.

The genus name refers to an earlier described (and older) penguin genus found in the same deposits (Waimanu), combined with a derivation of sequor (Latin 'to follow'). The species is named after Rosemary Ann Goord (née Crawford, 1948–2015), the late wife of Richard Goord, who owns Claremont Estate, where the fossil was found.

Weblinks

Canterbury Museum

Sciblogs

References

Mayr, G.; De Pietri, V.L.; Love, L.; Mannering, A.A. & Scofield, R.P. 2018. A well-preserved new mid-Paleaocene penguin (Aves, Sphenisciformes) from the Waipara Greensand in New Zealand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37: 6, e1398169.

Recommended citation

Miskelly, C.M. 2022. Rosie's penguin. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz