Penguins are middle- to large-sized sea birds and are widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. They have completely lost the capability for the aerial flight, but are highly efficient wing-propelled swimmers and divers. They have a long fossil record over 60 million years, and their origin could possibly extend back to the late Cretaceous. This study aims to elaborate the course of penguin evolution and driving force of changes based on fossil records of penguins. Numerous fossil penguin specimens have been collected and studied from New Zealand, Antarctica, South America, Australia, and Africa. Studies on fossil penguins have spanned about 150 years history since Huxley (1859). Previous works on fossil penguins have achieved excellent results, but at the same time, left considerable confusion on taxonomy and anatomical interpretation, mainly because of the poor nature of the penguin fossils in early studies. Examination of newly found materials and updated evaluation of previously studied materials are needed, using modern methods. During about 150 years of fossil penguins study since Huxley1859, more than 40 genera and 70 species have been described. The number of specimens listed in the published literature amounts to more than 1300. Chapter II reviews all those fossil penguins in a summarised and consistent style, aiming to present the taxonomy used in this study as a primary and essential resource for research. The chapter also provides other information on fossil penguins, such as geological data and an assessment of the skeletal association of the specimens referred to a species. Chapter III introduces the osteology of penguins, by describing and comparing the skeletal characteristics and variation of both extant and fossil species. Though previous works on penguins osteology are extensive, the interpretation of the homology, and resulted terminology, are occasionally inappropriate, or incorrect, because of the highly-specialised structure. Many of the new, yet undescribed, fossils prompt a comprehensive update of those previous studies, to understand the nature of morphological variation in penguins, and to correct or clarify confusion in previous works. The New Zealand fossil penguin fauna is one of the most significant for fossil penguin studies, but there are many undescribed fossil penguin specimens. Chapter IV provides accounts of such materials. Chapter IV also reviews previously-described New Zealand fossil penguins, usually re-evaluated using new materials. This chapter includes reassessment of the controversial, first-described fossil penguin Palaeeudyptes antarcticus, description of an enigmatic new species (Pakudyptes hakataramea gen. et sp. nov.) which could elucidate the evolutionary pattern of the penguin wing, description of new materials of Platydyptes revealing a unique structure and functional interpretation, and redescriptions with functional interpretation of Pachydyptes and Archaeospheniscus. Published relationships within penguins have not been adequately discussed but stated within rather rough frameworks, so that the relationships within penguins were unclear. Chapter V provides an explicit framework for the phylogeny of penguins. Osteology-based cladistic analysis was performed to seek out the relationships within penguins, using observations on both extant and fossil penguins. There are several important grades in penguin history, which are structurally distant from each other. Results also agree with the published views in which the extant penguins form a rigid group, but Simpson�s subfamily groupings are only partly supported. A postulated phylogenetic tree includes all known fossil penguin taxa including un-named ones. Chapter VI, as a synthesis of contents of previous chapters, provides a broad interpretation of penguin evolution through the Cenozoic: origin, body size increase, demise of 'giant penguins', and the emergence of modern penguins. The chapter gives a global picture of the interaction of penguins, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and temperature and sea-level change. Two main sections are: 'Origin of penguins' and 'Evolutionary process of penguins.' The loss of aerial flight and increase of body size were possibly triggered by the K/T mass extinction event which drastically reduced the predatory pressure for early penguins. The 'giant penguins' survived until the Late Oligocene but declined as the oceans modernised, and new forms of whales with advanced feeding function appeared. There is controversy about appearance of modern penguins. The fossil-based hypothesis (relatively recent origin for crown-penguins) contradicts the molecular-based one (ancient origin for crown penguins), though 'hard evidence' at present does not easily refute either hypothesis.

Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 106-117)

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 45-49)

Thesis (Masters)--California Institute of Technology, 1946. / Title from home page (viewed 04/28/2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Masters) -- California Institute of Technology, 1939. / Title from home page (viewed 04/29/2010). Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from PDF file main screen (viewed on May 7, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, [Department of] Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

A PhD thesis which draws together the evidence for the occurrence of fossil objects in archaeological sites in Great Britain and Ireland during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. The wider contexts of fossils discovered in sites of the same period in Europe and of fossils discovered in earlier periods (Palaeolithic and Mesolithic) are also discussed. This is also a re-examination and update of the work of Kenneth Oakley and as such investigates the folklore of fossils. The use of fossiliferous stone for lithics is also considered.

No description available.

Palaeo-ornithology has been dominated by taxonomy. To try and redress the balance and help palaeoecologists interpret fossil birds in a biological and ecological perspective, the taphonomy of birds needs to be fully understood. The taphonomy of birds is concerned with all processes from death to the collection of the fossil bird. Between these two points (the transfer of the organism from the biosphere to the lithosphere) a variety of forces and processes affect the bird/fossil. By means of experiments in the natural environment and in controlled conditions in the laboratory, and subsequent comparisons of the results with case studies of fossil assemblages, the processes leading to preservation can be deduced and the former living community restored on the basis of the fossil evidence. The research involved two main approaches: 1. experimental taphonomy / observational taphonomy; and 2. case histories of fossil communities and their interpretation. Experimental work was carried out in the natural environment. Two field sites were chosen in southern Florida, a freshwater environment and a marine environment. The monitoring and controlling of these experiments required knowledge and techniques in zoology, botany, ecology, sedimentology, limnology, marine biology, microbiology, pathology and forensic science. Results obtained included the effects of scavenging, anoxia, transport, rate of burial, and temperature on rates of decay, the causes of bird mortality, the processes resulting in disarticulation, and the effects of decay upon feathers. Once the experimentaVobservational data had been collected they allowed a series of taphonomic thresholds (a decay sequence) to be defined. These data were then applied to case studies of fossil bird assemblages from different sedimentological environments. The following LagersHitten were investigated: Messel (Eocene, Germany) = restricted lacustrine; Green River (Eocene, USA) = lacustrine; Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone (Jurassic, Germany) = restricted marine; La Meseta Formation (Eocene, Antarctica) = marine; Rancho La Brea (Pleistocene, USA) = terrestrial "trap". The biases in each environment were assessed (e.g. birds in an aquatic ten-estrial environment had a higher preservation potential than birds from a tenestrial environment). The fossil record of birds is not as depauperate as previously thought but is heavily biased, depending on the proximity of the bird's habitat to that of the preserving sedimentary environment. Marine and littoral birds are poorly represented even though they inhabit sedimentary environments with a high preservation potential. This reflects low densities of birds per unit area. Aquatic birds (and terrestrial birds that inhabit the ecotone surrounding freshwater together with some larger fOlIDS from further away) are much better represented. This is because they inhabit the only terrestrial environments with a high preservation potential, coupled with the high densities of individuals per unit area. The bias towards large terrestrial birds is due to their large bones being more resistant to transport induced damage. These results have implications for the understanding of the evolution of birds. Patterns of evolution in birds can not be fully resolved on fossil evidence alone; biases in the taphonomy of birds only permit a small proportion of species from certain environments to be preserved. The taphonomy of feathers was investigated and it was discovered that the "organic trace" that commonly represents the outline of the feather trace is the diagenetically altered glycocalyx of the bacteria that were degrading the feather. In several localities these feather-degrading bactelia are preserved in authigenic minerals. The taphonomy of bats and pterosaurs was also investigated. The similarity of anatomical structures of birds, bats and pterosaurs results in similar taphonomic pathways.

No description available.