The prehistoric fossil record was long limited to very fragmentary remains described as P. cymatotrypetes found in Early Pliocene deposits of Langebaanweg, South Africa; while this bird apparently was close to the Common Diving Petrel, no members of the genus are known from South African waters today.
-- might have been re-dated since 1970s --> Pliocene rocks in a quarry at Langebaanweg, South Africa, meaning that this penguin lived not much less than 5 million years ago.
Langebaanweg is also notable as the birthplace of former England cricketer Allan Lamb, who played 79 Tests for his adopted country as well as the 1987 and 1992 Cricket World Cup Finals.
From November 1943 it started to training crews from the South African Air Force with a detachment at Langebaanweg in the Cape Province, it still carried out anti-submarine patrols but began to restrict those patrols to within the South Africa Defence Area.
The painted-snipe, †Rostratula minator was described in 1988 from deposits of the early Pliocene found in Langebaanweg, South Africa.