Re: [dinosaur] Xunmenglong, new compsognathid theropod from Lower Cretaceous of China

> I had read somewhere that the word "manchot" was
> introduced by the 18th century French naturalist
> Georges-Louis Leclerc (Comte de Buffon) in a conscious
> effort to differentiate penguins from auks.

That's likely. Penguins were after all unknown in Europe almost until then.

> > In Welsh, Cornish and Breton, pen gwynn (and variants) literally means "white head" and was applied to one of the capes the great auks covered in guano.
>
> Or because of the white spot on the great auk's head?

That probably makes more sense.