Junats’ penguin was described from a single specimen found at the southern margin of Kawhia Harbour in the Waikato District of the North Island of New Zealand. The intertidal shore platform from which the block was extracted is an outcrop of Glen Massey formation (34.6-27.3 Ma, Oligocene). 

The holotype WM2006/1/1 is held at the Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato. It includes cervical and thoracic vertebrae, synsacrum, sternum, vertebral and sternal ribs, pubis, scapula, coracoid, humerus, radius, ulna, ulnare, carpometacarpus, manual phalanx, femur, tibiotarsus and pedal phalanx. 

Osteological features that Junats’ penguin shares with other Kairuku penguins include a double facet of the sternal articulation of the coracoid, and a convex medial margin of the distal joint of the tibiotarsus. In addition, measurements of the wing bones show relative proportions and absolute size similar to the holotype of Grebneff’s penguin K. grebneffi (OU 22094). However, there are differences in the hindlimbs of Junats’ penguin compared to those of Grebneff’s penguin. Junats’ penguin has longer tibiotarsi and longer femora, although the femur is not as stout as in Grebneff’s penguin (i.e. it is proportionately narrower across the middle of the femoral shaft) These longer legs means that Junats’ penguin could have had been slightly taller and overall more elongated than Grebneff’s penguin and Waitaki penguin K. waitaki. Indeed, the body proportions of the Junats’ penguin may have been more similar to modern emperor penguins. 

A phylogenetic analysis returned K. waewaeroa as a sister taxon to the clade that unites K. waitaki, K. grebneffi and the Glen Murray Kairuku sp.(UA V005a-t), suggesting that the body plan of Kairuku waewaeroa could have been ancestral to the Kairuku lineage. Kairuku penguins were likely to have been widespread across Zealandia continent during the Oligocene. 

The generic name Kairuku means ‘food-diver’, based on Māori ‘kai’ (food, eat) and ‘ruku’ (dive). The specific name is based upon Māori ‘waewae’ (legs) and ‘roa’ (long) to denote the elongated condition of hind limbs element compared to other Kairuku species.

Weblink

https://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/blog/_archives/2021/10/01/new-giant-penguin-from-new-zealand.html

References

Giovanardi, S.; Ksepka, D.T.; Thomas, D.B. 2021. A giant Oligocene fossil penguin from the North Island of New Zealand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 41 (3): e1953047 (13 pp).

Recommended citation

Giovanardi, S. 2022. Junats' penguin. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz