Best Eocene

Popigai is a massive impact crater located in Siberia, Russia. Formed during the Eocene epoch approximately 35 million years ago, it’s one of Earth's largest and best-preserved impact structures. Its sheer size—over 10 kilometers across—makes it notable for geological research and studying ancient e...

Philip D. Gingerich is an American paleontologist renowned for his extensive fieldwork and discoveries of early cetaceans and primates in Egypt and Pakistan.

Palaeomacropis eocenicus is an extinct species of oil-collecting bee described in 2007, known exclusively from fossils found in the Oise amber of France.

Koko Guyot is a large volcano in the Pacific's Emperor seamount chain, notable for its 48-million-year-old volcanic rock samples recovered during scientific deep-sea drilling.

Mary R. Dawson was an American vertebrate paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, celebrated for her extensive research on Cenozoic mammals across North America.

Mistastin is a meteorite impact crater in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, notable for its impact melt rocks that serve as analogs for lunar geology.

Nintoku Guyot is a prominent flat-topped seamount in the Emperor chain, notable for its distinct magnetic anomalies and its volcanic formation during the Paleogene period.

Yuryaku Guyot is an underwater volcano in the Emperor seamount chain, distinguished by its highly alkalic lava composition and formation approximately 43 million years ago.

Daikakuji Guyot is a seamount located precisely at the bend between the Emperor and Hawaiian volcanic chains, representing a key 47-million-year-old geological transition.

Described by Cockerell in 1906, Melitta willardi is a rare North American bee belonging to the Melittidae family, distinguished by its specific floral choices.

Giant Eocene penguin from Peru described in 2010, the first fossil penguin with preserved feather melanosomes, revealing reddish-brown and grey plumage.

Extinct Miocene penguin from Chubut Province, Argentina, distinguished by bilobed skull features that set it apart from other South American fossil penguin genera.

An extinct Eocene penguin from Antarctica, with size estimates suggesting it could reach roughly 2 meters in height, potentially the largest penguin ever to have lived.

Ojin Guyot is a sizable flat-topped submarine volcano in the Emperor seamount chain, notable for its complex geological structure that dates back roughly 55 million years.

Giant Eocene penguin (~36 mya) from coastal Peru, described by Clarke et al. in 2007 and notable for its unusually elongated, spear-like bill.

Montagnais is a buried meteorite impact crater located on the continental shelf off Nova Scotia, Canada, notable for its submarine discovery via seismic surveys.

Erimo Guyot is an extinct, flat-topped submarine volcano in the Pacific Ocean, notable as a key geological feature of the ancient Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain.

Extinct Eocene penguin from the La Meseta Formation of Seymour Island, Antarctica, named after Norwegian ship captain Carl Anton Larsen, an early Antarctic explorer.

Extinct Eocene penguin from Seymour Island, Antarctica, named after Swedish palaeontologist Carl Wiman and described from fossils in the La Meseta Formation.

Extinct Eocene penguin from the La Meseta Formation of Seymour Island, Antarctica, named in honour of Polish oceanographer Henryk Arctowski of the Belgica expedition.

Small, slender extinct Eocene penguin from the La Meseta Formation of Seymour Island, Antarctica, one of three recognised species within the genus Delphinornis.

Extinct late-Oligocene penguin from New Zealand named in honour of ornithologist Bernard Stonehouse and known from fragmentary fossil material recovered there.

An extinct Eocene giant penguin, known from fragmentary remains suggesting it may have exceeded even Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi in size.

Shunak is an impact crater located in Kazakhstan, notable for its well-preserved rim structure, estimated age of roughly 45 million years, and 2.8 km diameter.

Aouelloul is a meteorite impact crater located in the Adrar region of Mauritania, notable for its well-preserved bowl shape estimated to be around 3 million years old.

Large Eocene penguin from New Zealand estimated to have exceeded 80 kg, placing it among the heaviest fossil penguins in the paleontological record.

An extinct giant penguin from the Eocene of Antarctica and New Zealand, estimated to have stood approximately 1.7 meters tall, making it one of the largest penguins ever known.

Ragozinka is a meteorite impact crater in Russia, notable for its 9-kilometer diameter and its estimated formation roughly 55 million years ago during the early Paleogene period.

Early Eocene penguin (~42 mya) from Peru, described in 2010 and one of the oldest penguins known, helping establish that penguins reached low latitudes early.