BUENOS AIRES • Argentine researchers have announced the discovery of fossilised skin on the remains of the wing of a 43-million-year-old penguin on Marambio Island in the Antarctic.

The fossil, found during a research mission in 2014, was studied at the La Plata Museum by Argentine palaeontologist Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche, the agency for scientific disclosure at National University of La Matanza said on Friday.

The fossilised skin belongs to the Palaeeudyptes gunnari, one of the many extinct types of penguins that lived in Antarctica during the Eocene period, which lasted from around 56 million to 34 million years ago.

At that time, Antarctica was covered in woodland and boasted a diverse fauna.

"The fossilisation of the skin of this wing is unique because it's the first conserved example in the world of a penguin with skin," Ms Acosta Hospitaleche said. "The skin was conserved as a fossil on both surfaces of its wing, enveloping the bones that have remained articulated in their original position."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE