Early Penguin Discovered in New Zealand
Named the "Waimanu" from Māori for "waterbird". Fossil bones were found in a riverbed of New Zealand's Greensand Formation in 1980. Two species have been dated from the Late Paleocene Era. Waimanu was a genus of early penguin which lived soon after the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, lending support to the theory that the radiation of modern birds took place before the extinction of the dinosaurs. While it was a very early member of the Sphenisciformes genus, Waimanu was flightless like all modern penguins. Though its wing bones do not show the extreme specializations modern penguins have for an aquatic lifestyle it does seem adapted for wing-propelled diving, and may have resembled a flightless loon.
