Waimanu

Taxobox
name = "Waimanu"
fossil_range = Middle - Late Paleocene

---

image_width = 250px
status = EX
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Sphenisciformes
genus = "Waimanu"
genus_authority = Slack, Jones, Ando, Harrison, Fordyce, Arnason & Penny, 2006
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Waimanu manneringi" (type)
* "Waimanu tuatahi"

"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-studes, e.g. the extensive one by Hackett et al (2008) [A Phylogenomic Study of BirdsReveals Their Evolutionary History, Shannon J. Hackett et. al., SCIENCE VOL 320 27 JUNE 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 mya.

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. "Molecular Biology and Evolution" 23(6): 1144-1155. DOI|10.1093/molbev/msj124 [http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/23/6/1144 PDF fulltext] [http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/msj124/DC1 Supplementary Material]

External links

* [http://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/features/paleontology/waimanu.html Waimanu research group official website.]
* [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/03/waimanu.php Images of "Waimanu" specimens and a phylogram of early birds.]