Aptenodytes ridgeni Temporal range: Pliocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Sphenisciformes
Family:	Spheniscidae
Genus:	Aptenodytes
Species:	A. ridgeni
Binomial name
*Aptenodytes ridgeni* Simpson, 1972

Map showing the location of Ridgen's penguin finds (purple), together with current ranges of emperor penguins (green) and king penguins (red and orange). Breeding colonies are light blue.

Aptenodytes ridgeni, also referred to as Ridgen's penguin, is an extinct species of penguin from the Pliocene of New Zealand.^[1] It was intermediate in size between its living congeners, standing an estimated 90–100 cm tall. The remains were first found in 1968 on a Canterbury region beach by 11-year-old schoolboy Alan Ridgen.^[2]

References

^ Gill, B.J. (2010). Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica (Fourth ed.). Wellington: Te PaPa Press. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-877385-59-9.
^ Gill, Brian James (1991). New Zealand's extinct birds. Random Century. p. 25. ISBN 1-86941-125-0.