Waimanutaha

Waimanutaha (meaning "beside Waimanu") is a genus of extinct penguins known from the Paleocene (Danian or Selandian ages) Waipara Greensand of New Zealand. The genus contains a single species, Waimanutaha kenlovei, known from a partial skeleton including the mandible and possibly two additional partial skeletons. The holotype specimen, CM 2018.124.4, was discovered in 2017 and initially described by Mayr et al. (2020), who assigned it to cf. Muriwaimanu,^[1] but phylogenetic separation and proportional differences ruled out this classification.^[2]

Waimanutaha Temporal range: latest Early or Middle Paleocene (Danian or Selandian), ~62.4–61.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype specimen
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Clade:	Austrodyptornithes
Order:	Sphenisciformes
Genus:	†Waimanutaha Mayr et al., 2025
Species:	†W. kenlovei
Binomial name
†Waimanutaha kenlovei Mayr et al., 2025

Waimanutaha is one of many early-diverging sphenisciforms from the Waipara Greensand, all of which represent some of the oldest known penguins in the fossil record. The other named genera include Archaeodyptes, Daniadyptes, Muriwaimanu, Sequiwaimanu, Waimanu, and Waiparadyptes.^[2]