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aristarchus writes:

New Zealand's ancient monster penguins had northern hemisphere doppelgangers:

New Zealand's monster penguins, which lived 62 million years ago, had doppelgangers in Japan, the U.S. and Canada, a study published today in the Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research has found.

Scientists have identified striking similarities between the penguins' fossilized bones and those of a group of much younger Northern Hemisphere birds, the plotopterids.

These similarities suggest plotopterids and ancient penguins looked very similar and might help scientists understand how birds started using their wings to swim instead of fly.

Around 62 million years ago, the earliest known penguins swam in tropical seas that almost submerged the land that is now New Zealand. Paleontologists have found the fossilized bones of these ancient waddlers at Waipara, North Canterbury. They have identified nine species, ranging in size from small penguins, the size of today's Yellow-Eyed Penguin, to 1.6-meter-high monsters.

Plotopterids developed in the Northern Hemisphere much later than penguins, with the first species appearing between 37 and 34 million years ago. Their fossils have been found at a number of sites in North America and Japan. Like penguins, they used their flipper-like wings to swim through the sea. Unlike penguins, which have survived into the modern era, the last plotopterid species became extinct around 25 million years ago.

Journal Reference:
Gerald Mayr, James L. Goedert, Vanesa L. De Pietri, et al. Comparative osteology of the penguin‐like mid‐Cenozoic Plotopteridae and the earliest true fossil penguins, with comments on the origins of wing‐propelled diving, Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research (DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12400)

Original Submission