This article from the Uni we held the memorable LCA2006 at, speaks to the penguin fossils which were dug up at about the same time as the conference, & from a tad up the East coast of EnnZed from Dunedin.
These fossils are a little older than archaic penguins from Tierra del Fuego, documented by Dr Julia Clarke and coauthors (2003), and are the oldest fossil penguins reported from New Zealand.
Because the Waimanu ["waterbird" in Maori] penguins are well dated in terms of geological age, it is possible to use that known age to calibrate a new molecular phylogeny — or pattern of relationships — for living birds. The phylogeny shows a branching pattern of bird relationships based on study of genetic material from a range of living birds such as storks, albatrossses, ducks and moas. By using the dates from the fossil Waimanu penguins as a calibration point, we can then predict how far back in time the other groups of living birds originated. If early penguins lived in southern seas not long after the extinction of dinosaurs, then other bird groups more distantly related to penguins must have been established even earlier.
The study suggests that many groups of living birds originated well back in Cretaceous times, when dinosaurs were thriving - thus, many modern lineages had ancient origins.
So... in summary, the oldest known penguins (as of March, from next to LCA2006) & their very existence — like Linux’s — is the cause of a revolution in itself.
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