Palaeospheniscus bergi is a species of the extinct penguin genus Palaeospheniscus.Palaeospheniscus bergi at Fossilworks.org It stood about high in life, or somewhat smaller on average than the extant African penguin.
Etymology The species is named for Carlos Berg, a member of the La Plata Museum of Natural Sciences staff at the time when Moreno worked there.
Description Many bones referrable to this species have been recovered from the Early to Middle Miocene Gaiman and Puerto Madryn Formations and the El Foyel Group. Known localities are Trelew in Chubut Province and Puerto San Julián in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
Some recent researchers have considered Palaeospheniscus gracilis to be a synonym for this species.
Taxonomy Bones of this species were described as no less than 6 "species" (including the correct one) from 3 "genera" by Florentino Ameghino in a single publication. The synonyms are as follows: Palaeospheniscus bergii (lapsus) Ameghino, 1891 Paraspheniscus bergi Ameghino, 1905 Palaeospheniscus planus Ameghino, 1905 Palaeospheniscus rothi Ameghino, 1905 Pseudospheniscus interplanus Ameghino, 1905 Pseudospheniscus planus Ameghino, 1905 Pseudospheniscus concavus Ameghino, 1905 Pseudospheniscus convexus Ameghino, 1905 Either Pseudospheniscus interplanus or P. planus, as well as either Pseudospheniscus concavus or P. convexus, are a lapsus too.
References
Further reading Ameghino, Florentino (1905): Enumeracion de los impennes fósiles de Patagonia y de la Isla Seymour. An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires 3(6): 97-167, 4 figures, 8 plates. Moreno, Francisco "Perito" & Mercerat, A. (1891): Catálogo de los pájaros fósiles de la República Argentina conservados en el Museo de La Plata. Anales del Museo de La Plata 1: 7-71, 21 plates. Simpson, George Gaylord (1946): Fossil penguins. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 87: 7-99. PDF fulltext Simpson, George Gaylord (1971): Conspectus of Patagonian fossil penguins. American Museum Novitates 2488: 1-37. PDF fulltext