One of the most glaring flaws in creationist reasoning — among the many — is its desperate reliance on gaps in knowledge as hiding places for their putative god. It’s a strategy that ensures their god grows ever smaller and often vanishes entirely as science steadily closes those gaps. This “god of the gaps” approach is ultimately doomed—either to complete collapse or to a never-ending scramble for new gaps, real or imagined, in the forlorn hope that this time, unlike every other, the gap will contain the one thing they crave: a god that cannot be explained away.
One such gap — of which creationists so far seem blissfully unaware, or we would never hear the end of it — is the evolutionary transition between the flying ancestors of penguins and the modern, flightless penguins whose skeletons have adapted from an aerial to a marine existence. This transformation involved all the changes needed to turn wings into powerful flippers for ‘flying’ underwater, a more upright gait, and feathers adapted for life in the water and for the cold of the Antarctic environment where most species now live.
That gap has just been substantially filled by the discovery of a large collection of ancient penguin fossils in the Waipara Greensand Formation in New Zealand, north of Canterbury. This formation spans roughly 62.5 to 58 million years ago—a period of some 4.5 million years, beginning only a few million years after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago. With every such discovery, the supposed “mystery” shrinks a little more—and the god wedged into it fades further into irrelevance. How these fossils fill the gap in our knowledge of penguin evolution is the subject of an article in The Conversation by two palaeontologists from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand: Vanesa De Pietri, Senior Research Fellow in Palaeontology, and Paul Scofield, Adjunct Professor in Palaeontology. Their article is reprinted here under a Creative Commons licence, reformatted for stylistic consistency.
First, some background information on the Waipara Greensand Formation:
The Waipara Greensand Formation.
New Zealand map showing Waipara.
Overview & Geological Context
- The Waipara Greensand is a Paleocene-aged geological formation found in Canterbury, New Zealand, named after the Waipara River [1].
- It spans approximately 62 to 58 million years ago, corresponding to the Selandian and Thanetian stages of the early Paleocene [1].
- Subdivisions include the Mount Ellen Member and Stormmont Member, overlying the Loburn Formation and lying beneath the Ashley Mudstone [1].
Sedimentology & Depositional Setting
- The formation consists of fine to medium-grained, glauconitic quartzose sandstone — rich in the green mineral glauconite [1].
- Deposited in a shallow marine environment, the sands accumulated slowly under calm conditions, resulting in well-preserved layers up to 80 m thick in the Waipara River area, thinning outward [1].
Paleontological Significance
- Though sparsely fossiliferous, the formation ranks among the world’s most significant Paleocene sites for penguin origins [1].
- It has yielded early-diverging penguin genera, including:
- Waimanu
- Muriwaimanu
- Sequiwaimanu
- Archaeodyptes
- Daniadyptes
- Waimanutaha
- Waiparadyptes [1].
These fossils are among the oldest known penguins in the fossil record, offering key insight into early penguin evolution [1].- Notable species include:
- Waimanu manneringi, one of the most ancient, dating to about 62–60 Ma and providing crucial calibration for avian evolution post–Cretaceous [2].
- Crossvallia waiparensis, a giant Paleocene penguin whose leg bones suggest early development of oversized stature in penguins [3].
- Discoveries now include at least ten distinct penguin species, with some reaching heights of 1.6 m, highlighting rapid diversification and ecological prowess [4].
- Other faunal finds in the formation include:
- Several neoselachian sharks, such as Chlamydoselachus keyesi and Centroselachus goord
- The enigmatic Waiparaconus, possibly a barnacle or coelenterate li>Rare remains of fish and molluscs
- Nanofossils like Chiasmolithus bidens and Hornbrookina teuriensis, useful for biostratigraphic dating [1, 5].
- The site also preserves the earliest known tropicbird (Clymenoptilon) and pseudotooth bird (Protodontopteryx), expanding the spectrum of early marine avian life in the region [1].
Scientific & Evolutionary Importance
- The Waipara Greensand is fundamental in understanding penguin origins, capturing the transition from volant ancestors to upright, wing-propelled divers [6].
- It documents important functional changes — such as increasing adaptation of wings and pectoral structures for underwater propulsion and the evolution of diving musculature [4].
- The formation underscores New Zealand’s role as a cradle of early penguin evolution, showing rapid diversification in the absence of large terrestrial predators and illustrating a rich evolutionary laboratory in the Paleocene world [4].
In summary, the Waipara Greensand Formation is not just a patch of ancient sandstone—it’s a window into the dawn of one of the world’s most endearing bird lineages. Its fossils map the evolutionary trajectory from primitive, auk-like penguins to more specialised aquatic beings, setting the stage for the penguins we know today.
Dagger beaks and strong wings: new fossils rewrite the penguin story and affirm NZ as a cradle of their evolution
An artistic representation of a North Canterbury beach some 62 millions years ago.
Canterbury Museum and Tom Simpson, CC BY-SA
Vanesa De Pietri, University of Canterbury and Paul Scofield, University of Canterbury
Remarkable new fossil discoveries in New Zealand are driving a significant reassessment of our understanding of the early evolution of penguins.
We know Antarctica was home to at least ten species, including giant penguins, during the Eocene epoch from about 56 to 34 million years ago.
Now, our latest findings based on fossils from a site in North Canterbury reveal an even richer and earlier period of diversification.
These discoveries are reshaping the 66-million-year story of how penguins evolved in the wake of the devastating Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction which followed the cataclysmic asteroid impact that wiped out most dinosaurs and many terrestrial and marine organisms.
For a long time, the early evolutionary journey of penguins remained largely shrouded in mystery. The fossil record for these seabirds was very sparse, particularly for the crucial period immediately after the mass extinction event.
This made it difficult to piece together how and where penguins first developed their distinctive aquatic adaptations. Our previous knowledge was limited to a mere handful of specimens, revealing only fragments of the group’s deep past.
But the new fossils help us track how penguins evolved from their earliest ancestors into the iconic divers we recognise today.
The Waipara Greensand: a palaeontological goldmine
An hour north of Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island, North Canterbury’s Waipara Greensand is a true palaeontological treasure trove.
This unique geological formation spans a critical time period from about 62.5 million to 58 million years ago. Historically, it yielded few vertebrate fossils. But recent intensive collecting efforts have unearthed multiple exceptionally preserved specimens of ancestral penguins as well as of the earliest known representatives of other marine bird lineages, including tropicbirds and extinct bony-toothed birds.
Our latest study reports on a wealth of new ancestral penguins from this locality. We’ve identified four new species that lived around 62 million to 57 million years ago, during the Paleocene. These range from just bigger than little penguins to the size of an emperor penguin.
Crucially, we also found significant new material for known ancient species, including the first complete skull of Muriwaimanu tuatahi, one of the earliest described penguin species from the Waipara Greensand. These remarkable fossils significantly expand the known diversity and size range of early penguins.
Fossils unearthed from the Waipara Greensands include a skull of one of the earliest penguin species.
Author provided, CC BY-SA
Intensive collecting efforts have unearthed exceptionally preserved specimens of ancestral penguins and other marine bird lineages.
Al Mannering, CC BY-SA
Our findings show early penguin evolution primarily focused on profound changes to their wings, pectoral girdle (shoulder bones) and feet. All were optimised for powerful underwater propulsion.
Unlike their modern counterparts, these early forms likely possessed more flexible, “auk-like” wings with a movable carpal joint, rather than the rigid, stiff flippers we see today.
A key piece of evidence comes from the humerus (upper arm bone). The earliest species had a shorter attachment point for the supracoracoideus muscle. This lengthened progressively in later species, providing compelling evidence of increasing specialisation for wing-propelled diving, as this muscle is crucial for elevating the wing during the powerful underwater stroke.
These rapid evolutionary changes in the wing apparatus during the Paleocene likely represented a major adaptive leap. It paved the way for further radiations of penguins later in the Eocene.
Intriguingly, these early forms sported exceptionally long, dagger-like beaks, suggesting a vastly different feeding strategy compared to modern penguins. It possibly involved spearing fish rather than actively pursuing prey with shorter, more robust beaks.
This represents a profound shift in feeding ecology that unfolded over millions of years. The beak length remained surprisingly stable for more than 20 million years during early penguin evolution while limb morphology was refined rapidly.
In a truly exciting discovery, we also recorded gastroliths (stomach stones) for the first time in these ancient penguins. Living penguins ingest these stones regularly, and the finding offers vital clues about the diet and potentially the buoyancy control of ancient species.
New Zealand as a cradle of penguin evolution
The succession of increasingly more modern looking penguin forms found within the Waipara Greensand fossils supports New Zealand as a critical region for penguin evolution.
The newly discovered species span a broad range, with some of the oldest forms also being the smallest. This suggests early forms were likely outcompeted by later, more advanced ones, indicating strong selective pressures drove early penguin evolution.
New Zealand’s ancient environment, characterised by a notable absence of larger terrestrial predators, likely provided a setting conducive to the evolution of flightlessness in various avian lineages, including penguins.
The refinement of the wing apparatus probably enabled these early penguins to disperse beyond the New Zealand region towards the late Paleocene, colonising new waters.
The Waipara Greensand stands as one of the most productive fossil sites globally for understanding the earliest stages of penguin evolution. This locality promises to deliver more discoveries and further enrich our understanding of how these iconic seabirds came to be.
The authors thank Gerald Mayr at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum in Frankfurt for his help in preparing this article.
Vanesa De Pietri, Senior Research Fellow in Palaeontology, University of Canterbury and Paul Scofield, Adjunct Professor in Palaeontology, University of Canterbury
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
AbstractFor creationism, every such discovery is another nail in the coffin. Not only is the verified timeline utterly inconsistent with the Bible narrative, but the transitional Waipara Greensand fossils don’t just close a gap—they vividly chart the transformation from flying seabirds to the powerful, flipper-propelled divers we know today, and they refute the creationists assertion that such transitional fossils don't exist.
We report new stem group sphenisciforms (ancestral penguins) from the Paleocene of the Waipara Greensand (Canterbury, New Zealand), and describe four new genera and species (Daniadyptes primaevus gen. et sp. nov., Waiparadyptes gracilitarsus gen. et sp. nov., Archaeodyptes waitahaorum gen. et sp. nov., Waimanutaha kenlovei gen. et sp. nov.) and a small species, which is tentatively assigned to the taxon Kupoupou. New material of Muriwaimanu tuatahi includes the first complete skull of this species. The fossils show previously unknown features of the earliest penguins, such as well-developed basipterygoid processes and a long hind toe, and for the first time gastroliths are preserved in a stem group sphenisciform. The very small D. primaevus as well as W. gracilitarsus and A. waitahaorum exhibit plesiomorphic features, which support a position outside a clade formed by M. tuatahi and more crownward taxa. The penguins from the Waipara Greensand show that during early penguin evolution selective forces mainly acted on the wing, pectoral girdle, and foot morphology, whereas the greatly elongated beak remained relatively unchanged for more than 20 Myr. Furthermore, the fossils support the New Zealand region as the centre of origin of sphenisciforms and document multiple radiations of stem group Sphenisciformes throughout the Cenozoic.
Gerald Mayr, Vanesa L De Pietri, James Proffitt, Jacob C Blokland, Julia A Clarke, Leigh Love, Al A Mannering, Erica M Crouch, Catherine Reid, R Paul Scofield (2025)
Multiple exceptionally preserved fossils from the Paleocene Waipara Greensand inform the diversity of the oldest stem group Sphenisciformes and the formation of their diving adaptations Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 204(4), af080, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf080.
Copyright: © 2025 The Linnean Society of London.
Published by Oxford University Press. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)
They show that penguins didn’t appear fully formed, but evolved step by step, adapting bone by bone and feather by feather to a new way of life. Science moves forward by explaining these transitions; creationism survives only by ignoring them. With each gap that closes, their god has less room to hide, and the story of life becomes clearer without invoking the supernatural.
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