Proto Penguins Found

Four fossilised penguins discovered in a Canterbury riverbed have been confirmed as the world's oldest remains of the species.

Scientists believe they could be the missing link that proves modern birds lived alongside dinosaurs.

Dna tests on the Waimanu penguin fossils, found near the Waipara River, have determined they are between 60 million and 62 million years old – or up to 10 million years older than any other penguin remains discovered.

They lived in the shallow seas off eastern New Zealand just after dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago.

An Otago University geologist, Associate Professor Ewan Fordyce, said modern theory was that most modern bird groups evolved after the dinosaurs died out.

"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 findings – to be published in the international journal Molecular Biology – suggest many groups of living birds originated well back in the Cretaceous period, between 65 million and 144 million years ago, when dinosaurs were thriving.

Professor Fordyce expects the fossils to receive huge overseas attention. "These proto-penguins were about the size of yellow-eyed penguins and probably looked a bit like shags.

Read the rest here.

IIRC, there was a Mesozoic wading bird found in CHina too recently, but I can't seem to google it up quickly.