"Giant" Diving Birds: Late Cretaceous Waterfowl & Paleocene Penguin

[ZoPteryx]

Maaqwi cascadensis:  Known from a partial wing, this putative member of Vegaviidae (basal waterfowl) would be the first representative of this group from the North Hemisphere (British Columbia, specifically).  Only slightly larger than a Mallard, it was fairly large by Mesozoic bird standards.

Open Access:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0189473



Kumimanu biceae:  The earliest and most primitive known giant (human-sized) penguin, known from a partial skeleton found in New Zealand.  Despite its size, it was not a close relative of other giant penguins, suggesting large size evolved independently on several occasions.

Open Access:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01959-6

[Ravonium]

Interesting finds, especially the convergently evolved giant penguin. I always like it when a giant penguin is discovered or studied, and this one is particularly interesting.

[Sinornis]

Thank you for bringing the two research papers to our attention! Here is a link to a wonderful, and pretty up-to-date, fossil penguin site that some of you might be interested in. It also includes a lot of original paleoart.

https://fossilpenguins.wordpress.com/