New insights for the study of penguin mandibles: the most complete beak from the Eocene of Antarctica

HAIDR, N.; ACOSTA HOSPITALECHE, C.

Diamante

Congreso; 9th Society Avian Paleontology and Evolution Meeting; 2016

CICYTTP CONICET

New materials coming from different levels of the La Meseta and Submeseta formations, including the most complete beak of a penguin (MLP 14-II-27-27) from Antarctica, are described here. A new morphometric approach, based on Principal Component Analysis, and Elliptic Fourier Analysis, was performed in order to analyze the articular area of the mandibles and maxilar remains, a skeletal correlate of dietary habits. As a result, we found that most studied penguins could be categorized within the piscivorous morphotypes, and that a few of them, including MLP 14-II-27-27, presented broader dietary preferences towards the catching of crustaceans. This corroborates the abundance of piscivorous penguins on the Eocene of Antarctica, and gives more information regarding the morphology of predominantly crustacivorous penguins.