 However, other Mesozoic bird specialists, including Storrs Olson and Sylvia Hope, have supported the classification of "Polarornis" as an early member of the loon lineage.Some recent studies seem to vindicate its status as a stem-loon; alongside "Neogaeornis" and some unnamed Antarctic spcimens, it seems to suggest a Gondwanan origin for this clade, possibly displaced northwards by early penguins.However, in 2017, a phylogenetic study, Agnolín and colleagues have found "Neogaeornis" and "Polarornis" to be stem-anseriforms along with "Australornis" and "Vegavis" in the family Vegaviidae.