Abstract
We describe leg bones of a giant penguin from the mid-Paleocene Waipara Greensand of New Zealand. The specimens were found at the type locality of Waimanu manneringi and together with this species they constitute the oldest penguin fossils known to date. Tarsometatarsus dimensions indicate a species that reached the size of Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi, one of the largest known penguin species. Stem group penguins therefore attained a giant size very early in their evolution, with this gigantism existing for more than 30 million years. The new fossils are from a species that is phylogenetically more derived than Waimanu, and the unexpected coexistence of Waimanu with more derived stem group Sphenisciformes documents a previously unknown diversity amongst the world’s oldest penguins. The characteristic tarsometatarsus shape of penguins evolved early on, and the significant morphological disparity between Waimanu and the new fossil conflicts with recent Paleocene divergence estimates for penguins, suggesting an older, Late Cretaceous, origin.
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Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Leigh Love, who collected the specimens and donated them to Canterbury Museum. We also thank Al Mannering for preparation work and Chris Clowes for data on the dinoflagellate fauna. Marío Chávez Hoffmeister provided a nexus file of his phylogenetic data set. Comments from Ursula Göhlich, Carolina Acosta-Hospitaleche, and four anonymous reviewers improved the text.
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Mayr, G., De Pietri, V.L. & Paul Scofield, R. A new fossil from the mid-Paleocene of New Zealand reveals an unexpected diversity of world’s oldest penguins. Sci Nat 104, 9 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-017-1441-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-017-1441-0