Inguza
Inguza Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Sphenisciformes |
Family: | Spheniscidae |
Genus: | †Inguza Simpson, 1975 |
Species: | †I. predemersus
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Binomial name | |
†Inguza predemersus Simpson, 1975
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Synonyms | |
Genus-level:
Species-level:
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Inguza predemersus is an
What is known from molecular data is that the time at which the present species lived is not too distant from the arrival of the ancestors of the African penguin on the Atlantic coasts of southern Africa. On the other hand, it may be closer to Pygoscelis. This would mean that its ancestors diverged from those of the extant Pygoscelis most likely at an indeterminate point of time during the Oligocene.[2]
Alternatively, it might not be close to extant penguins (the Spheniscinae), but a late survivor of an extinct lineage. This is not very likely given its age — it would be the last known survivor of the non-spheniscine penguins — but as some of these still lived a few million years ago, it cannot be ruled out.