A rigorous new genomic study has homed in on exactly when and where modern penguins originated. The study suggests the flightless birds first appeared in Australian and New Zealand coastal waters about 22 million years ago, and it was later that they spread down south into the cooler Antarctic waters.

The expansive global study first gathered blood and tissue samples from 18 penguin species. The goal was to sequence the penguin genome and effectively chart their evolution as they spread across the world.

The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand. The researchers suggest modern penguins most likely arose between 21 and 22 million years ago, more recently than the previously hypothesized timeframe of up to 40 million years ago.

The study also helps validate the hypothesis that king and emperor penguins are the sister group to all other penguins. So the evolutionary path suggests king and emperor penguins quickly moved down into sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters, rapidly developing the ability to tolerate the freezing temperatures.

The big penguin diversification, allowing them to spread more broadly across the globe, occurred around 12 million years ago. When Drake’s Passage (the space between the southern tip of South America and the South Shetland Islands in Antartica) opened enough to rev up the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the flightless penguins began to populate warmer coastal regions in South America and Africa.

The researchers do note this incredible ability for penguins to adapt to such diverse climates was a slow evolutionary process that took place over millions of years. And despite this adaptive tendency the animals are significantly struggling with current environment disruptions due to climate change. Several species around the globe are in rapid decline suggesting the speed of climate change today is far too rapid for them to adapt.

https://newatlas.com/biology/gene-study-penguins-evolution-australia/

PermeateFree said:

A rigorous new genomic study has homed in on exactly when and where modern penguins originated. The study suggests the flightless birds first appeared in Australian and New Zealand coastal waters about 22 million years ago, and it was later that they spread down south into the cooler Antarctic waters.

The expansive global study first gathered blood and tissue samples from 18 penguin species. The goal was to sequence the penguin genome and effectively chart their evolution as they spread across the world.

The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand. The researchers suggest modern penguins most likely arose between 21 and 22 million years ago, more recently than the previously hypothesized timeframe of up to 40 million years ago.

The study also helps validate the hypothesis that king and emperor penguins are the sister group to all other penguins. So the evolutionary path suggests king and emperor penguins quickly moved down into sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters, rapidly developing the ability to tolerate the freezing temperatures.

The big penguin diversification, allowing them to spread more broadly across the globe, occurred around 12 million years ago. When Drake’s Passage (the space between the southern tip of South America and the South Shetland Islands in Antartica) opened enough to rev up the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the flightless penguins began to populate warmer coastal regions in South America and Africa.

The researchers do note this incredible ability for penguins to adapt to such diverse climates was a slow evolutionary process that took place over millions of years. And despite this adaptive tendency the animals are significantly struggling with current environment disruptions due to climate change. Several species around the globe are in rapid decline suggesting the speed of climate change today is far too rapid for them to adapt.

https://newatlas.com/biology/gene-study-penguins-evolution-australia/

> The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand.

I’ve no doubt that they’re right. But how can they possibly tell that from genetics?

The general view is that Australian and Antarctica split about 30 million years ago. So most Australian species evolved since then. I imagine that 20-22 million years ago the gap between Australia and Antarctica was not as great as it was today, so migration between the two seems plausible, with the groups becoming more and more separated genetically as the continents drifted further apart.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

A rigorous new genomic study has homed in on exactly when and where modern penguins originated. The study suggests the flightless birds first appeared in Australian and New Zealand coastal waters about 22 million years ago, and it was later that they spread down south into the cooler Antarctic waters.

The expansive global study first gathered blood and tissue samples from 18 penguin species. The goal was to sequence the penguin genome and effectively chart their evolution as they spread across the world.

The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand. The researchers suggest modern penguins most likely arose between 21 and 22 million years ago, more recently than the previously hypothesized timeframe of up to 40 million years ago.

The study also helps validate the hypothesis that king and emperor penguins are the sister group to all other penguins. So the evolutionary path suggests king and emperor penguins quickly moved down into sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters, rapidly developing the ability to tolerate the freezing temperatures.

The big penguin diversification, allowing them to spread more broadly across the globe, occurred around 12 million years ago. When Drake’s Passage (the space between the southern tip of South America and the South Shetland Islands in Antartica) opened enough to rev up the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the flightless penguins began to populate warmer coastal regions in South America and Africa.

The researchers do note this incredible ability for penguins to adapt to such diverse climates was a slow evolutionary process that took place over millions of years. And despite this adaptive tendency the animals are significantly struggling with current environment disruptions due to climate change. Several species around the globe are in rapid decline suggesting the speed of climate change today is far too rapid for them to adapt.

https://newatlas.com/biology/gene-study-penguins-evolution-australia/

> The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand.

I’ve no doubt that they’re right. But how can they possibly tell that from genetics?

FROM THE ARTICLE:

>>The expansive global study first gathered blood and tissue samples from 18 penguin species. The goal was to sequence the penguin genome and effectively chart their evolution as they spread across the world.

The research swiftly answered several questions scientists have been debating for years. For example, where and when did penguins originate?<<

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

A rigorous new genomic study has homed in on exactly when and where modern penguins originated. The study suggests the flightless birds first appeared in Australian and New Zealand coastal waters about 22 million years ago, and it was later that they spread down south into the cooler Antarctic waters.

The expansive global study first gathered blood and tissue samples from 18 penguin species. The goal was to sequence the penguin genome and effectively chart their evolution as they spread across the world.

The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand. The researchers suggest modern penguins most likely arose between 21 and 22 million years ago, more recently than the previously hypothesized timeframe of up to 40 million years ago.

The study also helps validate the hypothesis that king and emperor penguins are the sister group to all other penguins. So the evolutionary path suggests king and emperor penguins quickly moved down into sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters, rapidly developing the ability to tolerate the freezing temperatures.

The big penguin diversification, allowing them to spread more broadly across the globe, occurred around 12 million years ago. When Drake’s Passage (the space between the southern tip of South America and the South Shetland Islands in Antartica) opened enough to rev up the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the flightless penguins began to populate warmer coastal regions in South America and Africa.

The researchers do note this incredible ability for penguins to adapt to such diverse climates was a slow evolutionary process that took place over millions of years. And despite this adaptive tendency the animals are significantly struggling with current environment disruptions due to climate change. Several species around the globe are in rapid decline suggesting the speed of climate change today is far too rapid for them to adapt.

https://newatlas.com/biology/gene-study-penguins-evolution-australia/

> The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand.

I’ve no doubt that they’re right. But how can they possibly tell that from genetics?

FROM THE ARTICLE:

>>The expansive global study first gathered blood and tissue samples from 18 penguin species. The goal was to sequence the penguin genome and effectively chart their evolution as they spread across the world.

The research swiftly answered several questions scientists have been debating for years. For example, where and when did penguins originate?<<

You’re right, that doesn’t answer the question. Try link at https://sci-hub.tw/10.1073/pnas.2006659117

> Our results indicate that the penguin crown-group originated during the Miocene in New Zealand and Australia, not in Antarctica as previously thought, and that Aptenodytes is the sister group to all other extant penguin species.

Aptenodytes = King + Emperor penguin + an extinct species whose bones have been found in the pliocene in New Zealand.
So is that New Zealand location of bones why they think that the penguins originated in New Zealand?

> Divergence of the crown group penguins was estimated to have been in the early Miocene, at 21.9 Mya (19 to 25 Mya)

Someone needs to fix wikipedia, they have 40 Mya.

> The first branching event led to the establishment of the genus Aptenodytes in the Antarctic, and reconstructions of the ancestral Pygoscelis species indicate that they colonized the Antarctic Peninsula. Penguins originated from areas with a maximum SST of 9 °C, which broadly corresponds to temperatures of sub-Antarctic waters … Spheniscus progressively diversifying and colonizing warmer at-sea environments

So they originally came from Antarctica not New Zealand, make up your mind.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

> The genetic evidence indicates the first penguins appeared in the relatively warmer coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand.

I’ve no doubt that they’re right. But how can they possibly tell that from genetics?

FROM THE ARTICLE:

>>The expansive global study first gathered blood and tissue samples from 18 penguin species. The goal was to sequence the penguin genome and effectively chart their evolution as they spread across the world.

The research swiftly answered several questions scientists have been debating for years. For example, where and when did penguins originate?<<

You’re right, that doesn’t answer the question. Try link at https://sci-hub.tw/10.1073/pnas.2006659117

> Our results indicate that the penguin crown-group originated during the Miocene in New Zealand and Australia, not in Antarctica as previously thought, and that Aptenodytes is the sister group to all other extant penguin species.

Aptenodytes = King + Emperor penguin + an extinct species whose bones have been found in the pliocene in New Zealand.
So is that New Zealand location of bones why they think that the penguins originated in New Zealand?

> Divergence of the crown group penguins was estimated to have been in the early Miocene, at 21.9 Mya (19 to 25 Mya)

Someone needs to fix wikipedia, they have 40 Mya.

> The first branching event led to the establishment of the genus Aptenodytes in the Antarctic, and reconstructions of the ancestral Pygoscelis species indicate that they colonized the Antarctic Peninsula. Penguins originated from areas with a maximum SST of 9 °C, which broadly corresponds to temperatures of sub-Antarctic waters … Spheniscus progressively diversifying and colonizing warmer at-sea environments

So they originally came from Antarctica not New Zealand, make up your mind.

>>Biogeographic History and Ancestral Niche Reconstruction.
The reconstruction of ancestral distributions identified the coastlines of Australia, New Zealand, and nearby islands as the most likely range of the ancestor of extant penguins (Fig. 1 and SI Appendix, Fig. S11 and Table S9). The first branching event led to the establishment of the genus Aptenodytes in the Antarctic, and reconstructions of the ancestral Pygoscelis species indicate that they colonized the Antarctic Peninsula (area C; Fig. 1 and SI Appendix, Table S9) soon after Aptenodytes, pointing to a long history of Antarctic occupation<<

The first branching meant the original species existed BEFORE this event and is probably due to Aptenodytes eventually taking up residence in Antarctica. However penguins as the paper attests, originated in Australia and New Zealand.

Might I suggest moll that before you blame and infer the authors of these papers have far less expertise than yourself, is to consider it might be you who is at fault and further investigation on your part might be warranted to avoid looking foolish.