Waimanu

Waimanu was a genus of early penguin which lived soon after the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. This means that the radiation of the Neoaves that include most modern birds either took place before the extinction of the dinosaurs, or it must have been extremely rapid in geological terms. DNA-studies, e.g. the extensive one by Hackett et al. (2008) seem to indicate the latter. 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 in body shape and maybe the Great Auk in its way of locomotion. DNA sequence analyses and anatomy argue for a close relationships of penguins and loons, the former lineage specializing for wing-propelled and the latter for foot-propelled diving.

Discovered in Canterbury, New Zealand riverbed sediments (near the Waipara River) of the greensand of the Waipara Formation in 1980, the name Waimanu comes from Māori for "waterbird". Two species are known, Waimanu manneringi from the Middle Paleocene about 60 million years ago (mya) and Waimanu tuatahi from the Late Paleocene, perhaps 58 Ma.