4404 x 4469 px | 37,3 x 37,8 cm | 14,7 x 14,9 inches | 300dpi
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The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, is a bird that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only species in the genus Pinguinus, a group which included several flightless giant auks from the Atlantic, to survive until modern times. It was also known as garefowl (from the Old Norse geirfugl, meaning "spear-bird", a reference to the shape of its beak), or penguin (before the birds known by that name today were so called). The Great Auk was found in great numbers on islands off eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Ireland and Great Britain before being hunted to extinction. Remains found in Floridian middens suggest that, at least occasionally, the Great Auk ventured that far south in winter as recently as the 14th century. The Great Auk was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae.[3] Analysis of mtDNA sequences have confirmed morphological and biogeographical studies in regarding the Razorbill as the Great Auk's closest living relative.[4] They were also closely related to the Little Auk (Dovekie), which underwent a radically different evolution compared to Pinguinus. Due to its outward similarity to the razorbill (apart from flightlessness and size), the Great Auk was often placed in the genus Alca. However, the fossil record (Pinguinus alfrednewtoni from the Early Pliocene Yorktown Formation of the Lee Creek Mine, USA) and molecular evidence demonstrate that the three genera, while still closely related, diverged soon after their common ancestor (probably similar to a stout Xantus's Murrelet) had spread to the coasts of the Atlantic. By that time however, the murres, or Atlantic Guillemots had apparently already split off from the other Atlantic alcids. Razorbill-like birds were common in the Atlantic during the Pliocene, but the evolution of the Dovekie is sparsely documented.
