Waimanu
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Waimanu ("waterbird") 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, not after as others had proposed. While it was a very early member of the sphenisciformes, Waimanu was flightless (like all modern members of its order). 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.
Discovered in Canterbury, New Zealand riverbed sediments (near the Waipara River) of the Waipara Greensand Formation in 1980, the name Waimanu comes from Māori for "waterbird". Two species are known, W. manneringi from the Early Paleocene and W. tuatahi from the Late Paleocene.
References
- Slack, K.E.; Jones, C.M.; Ando, T.; Harrison G.L.; Fordyce R.E.; Arnason, U. & Penny, D. (2006): Early Penguin Fossils, plus Mitochondrial Genomes, Calibrate Avian Evolution. Mol. Biol. Evol. 23(6): 1144-1155. DOI:10.1093/molbev/msj124 [PDF fulltext] [Supplementary Material]
External links
- [Waimanu research group official website.]
- [Images of Waimanu specimens and a phylogram of early birds.]
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