“Our analysis had prompted a rethink of our native fauna,” stated Canterbury Museum’s Dr. Paul Scofield.
“Most of the species that we regarded as iconic New Zealand natives — a traditional instance can be the takahē — we now know are comparatively latest blow-ins from Australia, arriving just a few million years in the past.”
Of their analysis, Dr. Scofield and colleagues centered on the so-called St Bathans Fauna, a set of greater than 9,000 specimens from 33 paleontological websites or discrete sedimentary beds close to the village of St Bathans, Central Otago, New Zealand’s South Island.
These websites, which have been as soon as on the backside of a big prehistoric lake, provide the one important perception into New Zealand’s non-marine wildlife from 20 million years in the past (Early Miocene epoch).
Unique creatures of the St Bathans Fauna embody Heracles inexpectatus, a large parrot that scientists nicknamed Squawkzilla; two thriller mammals; flamingos; a 3-m crocodile; a large horned turtle; and a large bat.
“Twenty-three years of digging at St Bathans has modified our concept in regards to the age of the New Zealand fauna and the significance of some animals over others,” Dr. Scofield stated.
“For instance, till now we thought that birds like kiwi and moa have been among the many oldest representatives of New Zealand fauna.”
“We are actually realizing that the kākāpō, tiny New Zealand wrens and bats, and even a weird freshwater limpet, are the true historical New Zealand natives.”
The authors concludes that this menagerie of unique animals was worn out by dramatic temperature drops over the past about 5 million years.
“The analysis at St Bathans had reworked our understanding of how non-marine vertebrate life in New Zealand regarded round 20 million years in the past in the course of the Early Miocene period,” stated Flinders College’s Dr. Trevor Worthy.
“It’s thrilling to be concerned in a mission that continues to make completely contemporary discoveries about what animals lived in New Zealand’s lakes and rivers, and the forests round them, throughout this important interval in historical past.”
“Yearly we discover new specimens. Finds that reveal superb new species that we couldn’t have imagined after we first began working there.”
“The animals that lived in New Zealand 20 million years in the past have been very completely different to what we now have now,” stated College of Canterbury’s Dr. Vanesa De Pietri.
“For instance, we had one other big eagle that was not associated to the Haast’s eagle (Hieraaetus moorei).”
“We had an entire bunch of songbirds that have been fairly completely different, crocodiles and even probably a small mammal that we’ve nicknamed the waddling mouse.”
“We’re nonetheless in the course of our analysis into understanding precisely what that was.”
This analysis is described in a paper printed within the journal Geobios.
Quotation:
Trevor H. Worthy et al. A synopsis of the Early Miocene St Bathans Fauna from New Zealand. Geobios, printed on-line August 6, 2024; doi: 10.1016/j.geobios.2024.03.002
This article was first printed by Sci-Information on 3 September 2024. Lead Picture: The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus). Picture credit score: Jake Osborne.
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