| 翻訳と辞書 |
Inkayacu
''Inkayacu'' is a genus of extinct penguin. It lived in Peru during the Late Eocene, around 36 million years ago. A nearly complete skeleton was discovered in 2008 and includes fossilized feathers, the first known in penguins. A study of the melanosomes, pigment-containing organelles within the feathers, indicated that they were gray or reddish brown. This differs from modern penguins, which get their dark black-brown feathers from unique melanosomes that are large and ellipsoidal.
==Description==
Although it was an early penguin, ''Inkayacu'' closely resembled its modern relatives. It had paddle-like wings with short feathers, and a long beak. ''Inkayacu'', along with other extinct penguins from Peru, are often referred to as giant penguins because of their very large size. ''Inkayacu'' was about long, in contrast to the largest living penguin, the emperor penguin, which is about long.
The melanosomes within the feathers of ''Inkayacu'' are long and narrow, similar to most other birds. Their shape suggests that ''Inkayacu'' had grey and reddish-brown feathering across its body. Most modern penguins have melanosomes that are about the same length as those of ''Inkayacu'', but are much wider. There is also a greater number of them within living penguins' cells. The shape of these melanosomes gives them a dark brown or black color, and is the reason why modern penguins are mostly black and white. Despite not having the distinctive melanosomes of modern penguins, the feathers of ''Inkayacu'' were similar in many other ways. The feathers that made up the body contour of the bird have large shafts, and the primaries along the edge of the wings are short and undifferentiated.〔 (Supporting Online Material )〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「Inkayacu」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|