Ornith. [f. mod.L. Sphenisc-us (Brisson) + -AN.] A penguin of the genus Spheniscus; a jackass penguin.
1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 255. The Spheniscans … have a straight and compressed beak. Ibid. The Cape Spheniscan … chiefly inhabits the neighbourhood of the Cape, where it nestles among the rocks.
So Sphenisque. rare.
1826. Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., XIII. 64. Cape Sphenisque. Ibid., 65. Magellanic Sphenisque.
