Buenos Aires (AFP)
Argentinian researchers have announced that they have identified remains of fossilized skin from a wing belonging to a 43 million-year-old penguin on Marambio Island in Antarctica.
The discovery of the fossil was made during a campaign carried out in 2014. The remains were then studied at the Museum of La Plata by the Argentine paleontologist Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche, said Friday the Agency for the scientific dissemination of the University National of La Matanza.
The fossilized skin belonged to a Palaeeudyptes gunnari, a species of penguin now extinct and which prospered in Antarctica during the Eocene, 43 million years ago, when the region was covered with wood and sheltered a diverse fauna .
"The fossilization of the skin of this wing is a unique fact because it is the first copy in the world of this penguin with the skin preserved," rejoiced Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche.
"The skin has been preserved in the form of a fossil on the two surfaces of the wing, surrounding the bones which have remained articulated in their original position," she added.
© 2020 AFP