ORCID Profile
0000-0001-7047-4680
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Geology | Palaeontology (incl. Palynology) | Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis | Geochronology | Palaeoecology | Quaternary Environments | Archaeological Science | Conservation And Biodiversity | Geochronology And Isotope Geochemistry | Palaeontology | Speciation and Extinction | Animal Systematics and Taxonomy
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Climate change | Effects of Climate Change and Variability on New Zealand (excl. Social Impacts) | Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences | Environmental education and awareness | Understanding Australia's Past | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales |
Related Links
Publications
A Plains-wanderer (Pedionomidae) that did not wander plains: a new species from the Oligocene of South Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-11-2015
DOI: 10.1111/IBI.12215
Past distribution of large weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the South Island, New Zealand, based on Holocene fossil remains
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1996
Evidence for a giant parrot from the Early Miocene of New Zealand
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 08-2019
Abstract: Insular avifaunas have repeatedly spawned evolutionary novelties in the form of unusually large, often flightless species. We report fossils from the Early Miocene St Bathans Fauna of New Zealand that attests to the former existence of a giant psittaciform, which is described as a new genus and species. The fossils are two incomplete tibiotarsi from a bird with an estimated mass of 7 kg, double that of the heaviest known parrot, the kakapo Strigops habroptila . These psittaciform fossils show that parrots join the growing group of avian taxa prone to giantism in insular species, currently restricted to palaeognaths, anatids, sylviornithids, columbids, aptornithids, ciconiids, tytonids, falconids and accipitrids.
Quaternary fossil faunas from caves in the Punakaiki area, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1993
Coprolite deposits reveal the diet and ecology of the extinct New Zealand megaherbivore moa (Aves, Dinornithiformes)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2008
A new species of Platymantis (Anura : Ranidae) from quaternary deposits on Viti Levu, Fiji
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2001
SUBMARINE FOSSIL MOA BONES FROM THE NORTHERN SOUTH ISLAND
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1993
A Shelduck (Anatidae: Tadorna ) from the Pliocene of South Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2014
Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 23-05-2014
Abstract: The evolution of the ratite birds has been widely attributed to vicariant speciation, driven by the Cretaceous breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. The early isolation of Africa and Madagascar implies that the ostrich and extinct Madagascan elephant birds (Aepyornithidae) should be the oldest ratite lineages. We sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of two elephant birds and performed phylogenetic analyses, which revealed that these birds are the closest relatives of the New Zealand kiwi and are distant from the basal ratite lineage of ostriches. This unexpected result strongly contradicts continental vicariance and instead supports flighted dispersal in all major ratite lineages. We suggest that convergence toward gigantism and flightlessness was facilitated by early Tertiary expansion into the diurnal herbivory niche after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Flightless rails (Aves; Rallidae) from the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna, Otago, New Zealand.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-02-2018
Using Holocene fossils to model the future: Distribution of climate suitability for tuatara, the last rhynchocephalian
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-03-2021
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.14092
Abstract: Correlative species distribution models (SDMs) are typically trained using only the contemporary distribution of species however, recent records might reflect an incomplete description of a species' niche, limiting the reliability of predictions. SDMs linking fossil records have the potential to improve conservation decisions under human‐induced climate change. Here, we built SDMs using presence records from contemporary and Holocene records to enable estimations of climatically suitable area under current and future climate scenarios. Aotearoa New Zealand Tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus For an evolutionary relict found in Aotearoa New Zealand, the tuatara ( Sphenodon punctatus ), we built SDMs using presence records from contemporary and Holocene records to estimate climatically suitable area under current and future climate scenarios. We also use our detailed knowledge of the Holocene distribution and remnant populations to examine niche shifts following the arrival of humans and associated introduction of mammalian predators. To build SDMs, we use presence records from four sources: (a) remnant populations, (b) radiocarbon‐dated fossil deposits from the Holocene, (c) other fossil deposits containing tuatara bones of Holocene age and iv) islands from which tuatara are known or highly likely to have become extinct. We found shifts in the niche of tuatara due to niche unfilling. Incorporating locations of Holocene deposits and/or all past locations in SDMs led to larger areas of climatically suitable area being identified compared to SDMs derived from remnant populations only. Using all presence records, under climate change projections for 2090, climatically suitable area increased slightly. However, many areas retain potential as translocation sites (e.g. northern South Island), some areas become unsuitable (e.g. inland Canterbury) and/or involve extrapolation into novel climates (e.g. Northland). SDMs incorporating locations of Holocene deposits and/or all past locations identified areas of critical habitat for tuatara under current and future climate scenarios, that would not have been identified using contemporary occurrences only. Our results highlight the need to consider past locations when assessing habitat suitability for conservation translocations, both for tuatara and other relict species.
A new species of the diving duck Manuherikia and evidence for geese (Aves : Anatidae : Anserinae) in the St Bathans Fauna (Early Miocene), New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2008
Fossils reveal an early Miocene presence of the aberrant gruiform Aves: Aptornithidae in New Zealand
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-01-2011
Ancient DNA Analyses Reveal Contrasting Phylogeographic Patterns amongst Kiwi (Apteryx spp.) and a Recently Extinct Lineage of Spotted Kiwi
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 02-08-2012
Late‐Pleistocene avifaunas from Cape Wanbrow, Otago, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2003
A reappraisal of the late Quaternary fossil vertebrates of Pyramid Valley Swamp, North Canterbury, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1997
Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 03-06-2008
Abstract: The pristine island ecosystems of East Polynesia were among the last places on Earth settled by prehistoric people, and their colonization triggered a devastating transformation. Overhunting contributed to widespread faunal extinctions and the decline of marine megafauna, fires destroyed lowland forests, and the introduction of the omnivorous Pacific rat ( Rattus exulans ) led to a new wave of predation on the biota. East Polynesian islands preserve exceptionally detailed records of the initial prehistoric impacts on highly vulnerable ecosystems, but nearly all such studies are clouded by persistent controversies over the timing of initial human colonization, which has resulted in proposed settlement chronologies varying from ≈200 B.C. to 1000 A.D. or younger. Such differences underpin radically ergent interpretations of human dispersal from West Polynesia and of ecological and social transformation in East Polynesia and ultimately obfuscate the timing and patterns of this process. Using New Zealand as an ex le, we provide a reliable approach for accurately dating initial human colonization on Pacific islands by radiocarbon dating the arrival of the Pacific rat. Radiocarbon dates on distinctive rat-gnawed seeds and rat bones show that the Pacific rat was introduced to both main islands of New Zealand ≈1280 A.D., a millennium later than previously assumed. This matches with the earliest-dated archaeological sites, human-induced faunal extinctions, and deforestation, implying there was no long period of invisibility in either the archaeological or palaeoecological records.
Descriptions and phylogenetic relationships of a new genus and two new species of Oligo-Miocene cormorants (Aves: Phalacrocoracidae) from Australia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 19-08-2011
Terrestrial Turtle Fossils from New Zealand Refloat Moa's Ark
Publisher: American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH)
Date: 14-03-2011
DOI: 10.1643/CH-10-113
Descriptions and phylogenetic relationships of two new genera and four new species of Oligo-Miocene waterfowl (Aves: Anatidae) from Australia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 06-2009
Quaternary fossil faunas, overlapping taphonomies, and palaeofaunal reconstruction in north Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2010
Letter to the editor
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2002
Foreword: Revisiting Lake Eyre Basin landscapes
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2022
EVOLUTION OF THE MOA AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE NEW-ZEALAND FLORA
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-1993
Recent advances in avian palaeobiology in New Zealand with implications for understanding New Zealand’s geological, climatic and evolutionary histories
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 19-04-2017
Quaternary fossil fauna of South Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-1997
Miocene Fossils Reveal Ancient Roots for New Zealand's Endemic Mystacina (Chiroptera) and Its Rainforest Habitat
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-06-2015
Mitochondrial Genomes from New Zealand’s Extinct Adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis) Support a Sister-Taxon Relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 15-02-2019
DOI: 10.3390/D11020024
Abstract: The recently extinct New Zealand adzebills (Aptornithidae, Aptornis spp.) were an enigmatic group of large flightless birds that have long eluded precise taxonomic assignment as they do not closely resemble any extant birds. Adzebills were nearly wingless, weighed approximately 16–19 kg, and possessed massive adze-like reinforced bills whose function remains unknown. Using hybridisation enrichment and high-throughput sequencing of DNA extracted from subfossil bone and eggshell, near-complete mitochondrial genomes were successfully assembled from the two Quaternary adzebill species: the North Island Adzebill (Aptornis otidiformis) and South Island Adzebill (A. defossor). Molecular phylogenetic analyses confirm that adzebills are members of the Ralloidea (rails and allies) and are sister-taxon to the Sarothruridae, which our results suggest comprises the Madagascan wood rails (Mentocrex, two likely sp.) in addition to the tiny ( gram) rail-like Afro-Madagascan flufftails (Sarothrura, 9 spp.). Node age estimates indicate that the split between adzebills and Sarothruridae occurred ~39.6 Ma, suggesting that the ancestors of the adzebills arrived in New Zealand by long-distance dispersal rather than continental vicariance. This newly identified biogeographic link between physically distant New Zealand and Afro-Madagascar, echoed by the relationship between the New Zealand kiwi (Apterygiformes) and Madagascan elephant-birds (Aepyornithiformes), suggests that the adzebill’s near relatives were formerly more widespread. In addition, our estimate for the ergence time between the two Quaternary adzebill species (0.2–2.3 Ma) coincides with the emergence of a land-bridge between the North and South islands of New Zealand (ca. 1.5–2 Ma). This relatively recent ergence suggests that North Island adzebills are the result of a relatively recent dispersal from the South Island, from which the earliest (Miocene) adzebill fossil has been described.
The fossil megapodes (Aves: Megapodiidae) of Fiji with descriptions of a new genus and two new species
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2000
Sexual dimorphism in the late Miocene mihirungDromornis stirtoni(Aves: Dromornithidae) from the Alcoota Local Fauna of central Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-06-2016
Sporormiella as a proxy for non-mammalian herbivores in island ecosystems
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2011
Man and megafauna in Tasmania: closing the gap
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2012
Ancient tortoise hunting in the southwest Pacific
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-12-2016
DOI: 10.1038/SREP38317
Abstract: We report the unprecedented Lapita exploitation and subsequent extinction of large megafauna tortoises ( ?Meiolania damelipi ) on tropical islands during the late Holocene over a 281,000 km 2 region of the southwest Pacific spanning from the Vanuatu archipelago to Viti Levu in Fiji. Zooarchaeological analyses have identified seven early archaeological sites with the remains of this distinctive hornless tortoise, unlike the Gondwanan horned meiolaniid radiation to the southwest. These large tortoise radiations in the Pacific may have contributed to the rapid dispersal of early mobile Neolithic hunters throughout southwest Melanesia and on to western Polynesia. Subsequent rapid extinctions of these terrestrial herbivorous megafauna are likely to have led to significant changes in ecosystems that help explain changes in current archaeological patterns from Post-Lapita contexts in the region.
An extinct Pleistocene endemic mekosuchine crocodylian from Fiji
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 19-09-2002
Fossil skink bones from Northland, New Zealand, and description of a new species of Cyclodina , Scincidae
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-1991
Likelihood reinstates Archaeopteryx as a primitive bird
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 26-10-2012
Abstract: The widespread view that Archaeopteryx was a primitive (basal) bird has been recently challenged by a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis that placed Archaeopteryx with deinonychosaurian theropods. The new phylogeny suggested that typical bird flight (powered by the front limbs only) either evolved at least twice, or was lost/modified in some deinonychosaurs. However, this parsimony-based result was acknowledged to be weakly supported. Maximum-likelihood and related Bayesian methods applied to the same dataset yield a different and more orthodox result: Archaeopteryx is restored as a basal bird with bootstrap frequency of 73 per cent and posterior probability of 1. These results are consistent with a single origin of typical (forelimb-powered) bird flight. The Archaeopteryx –deinonychosaur clade retrieved by parsimony is supported by more characters (which are on average more homoplasious), whereas the Archaeopteryx –bird clade retrieved by likelihood-based methods is supported by fewer characters (but on average less homoplasious). Both positions for Archaeopteryx remain plausible, highlighting the hazy boundary between birds and advanced theropods. These results also suggest that likelihood-based methods (in addition to parsimony) can be useful in morphological phylogenetics.
Miocene waterfowl and other birds from central Otago, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2007
SCRAPS FROM AN OWLS TABLE - PREDATOR ACTIVITY AS A SIGNIFICANT TAPHONOMIC PROCESS NEWLY RECOGNIZED FROM NEW-ZEALAND QUATERNARY DEPOSITS
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1994
Pliocene waterfowl (Aves:Anseriformes) from South Australia and a new genus and species
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2008
DOI: 10.1071/MU07063
A lost link between a flightless parrot and a parasitic plant and the potential role of coprolites in conservation paleobiology
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1523-1739.2012.01931.X
Abstract: Late Quaternary extinctions and population fragmentations have severely disrupted animal‐plant interactions globally. Detection of disrupted interactions often relies on anachronistic plant characteristics, such as spines in the absence of large herbivores or large fruit without dispersers. However, obvious anachronisms are relatively uncommon, and it can be difficult to prove a direct link between the anachronism and a particular faunal taxon. Analysis of coprolites (fossil feces) provides a novel way of exposing lost interactions between animals (depositors) and consumed organisms. We analyzed ancient DNA to show that a coprolite from the South Island of New Zealand was deposited by the rare and threatened kakapo ( Strigops habroptilus ), a large, nocturnal, flightless parrot. When we analyzed the pollen and spore content of the coprolite, we found pollen from the cryptic root‐parasite Dactylanthus taylorii . The relatively high abundance (8.9% of total pollen and spores) of this zoophilous pollen type in the coprolite supports the hypothesis of a former direct feeding interaction between kakapo and D. taylorii . The ranges of both species have contracted substantially since human settlement, and their present distributions no longer overlap. Currently, the lesser short‐tailed bat ( Mystacina tuberculata ) is the only known native pollinator of D. taylorii, but our finding raises the possibility that birds, and other small fauna, could have once fed on and pollinated the plant. If confirmed, through experimental work and observations, this finding may inform conservation of the plant. For ex le, it may be possible to translocate D. taylorii to predator‐free offshore islands that lack bats but have thriving populations of endemic nectar‐feeding birds. The study of coprolites of rare or extinct taxonomic groups provides a unique way forward to expand existing knowledge of lost plant and animal interactions and to identify pollination and dispersal syndromes. This approach of linking paleobiology with neoecology offers significant untapped potential to help inform conservation and restoration plans . Un Eslabón Perdido entre un Loro No Volador y una Planta Parásita y el Papel Potencial de Coprolitos en Paleobiología de la Conservación
Two new neoavian taxa with contrasting palaeobiogeographical implications from the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna, New Zealand
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-04-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S10336-022-01981-6
Abstract: Two new neoavian landbirds are reported from the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna from New Zealand. Aegotheles zealan etus sp. nov. is described from several bones, among which, notably, the tarsometatarsus shows more similarity to New Guinean taxa than to Australian—New Zealand species. Zealandornis relictus gen. et sp. nov. is described from a distal end of a humerus and placed in the new family Zealandornithidae, tentatively among the ‘higher landbirds’ Telluraves, with most similarity to coliiforms. The humerus is of similar size to that of species of Colius and its gracile shaft and very shallow sulcus scapulotricipitalis suggests reduced flying ability. The new species of Aegotheles reinforces the Australasian nature of the Zealandian fauna, while in contrast, Zealandornis relictus gen. et sp. nov. appears to have no close relatives. It is as distinct as Acanthisittidae and Strigopidae among birds, or Leiopelmatidae and Sphenodontidae among the herpetofauna, and like them, represents a similar relictual taxon. Together they confer a highly evolutionarily distinctive nature to the Zealandian fauna concomitant with a minimal 60 million years of isolation.
Lack of chronological support for stepwise prehuman extinctions of Australian megafauna
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 25-07-2013
Optical dating of quartz sediments and accelerator mass spectrometry14C dating of bone gelatin and moa eggshell: A comparison of age estimates for non‐archaeological deposits in New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2002
Identifying Cliques of Convergent Characters: Concerted Evolution in the Cormorants and Shags
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 14-05-2010
Abstract: A phylogenetic tree comprising clades with high bootstrap values or other strong measures of statistical support is usually interpreted as providing a good estimate of the true phylogeny. Convergent evolution acting on groups of characters in concert, however, can lead to highly supported but erroneous phylogenies. Identifying such groups of phylogenetically misleading characters is obviously desirable. Here we present a procedure that uses an independent data source to identify sets of characters that have undergone concerted convergent evolution. We examine the problematic case of the cormorants and shags, for which trees constructed using osteological and molecular characters both have strong statistical support and yet are fundamentally incongruent. We find that the osteological characters can be separated into those that fit the phylogenetic history implied by the molecular data set and those that do not. Moreover, these latter nonfitting osteological characters are internally consistent and form groups of mutually compatible characters or "cliques," which are significantly larger than cliques of shuffled characters. We suggest, therefore, that these cliques of characters are the result of similar selective pressures and are a signature of concerted convergence.
Resolving lost herbivore community structure using coprolites of four sympatric moa species (Aves: Dinornithiformes)
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 30-09-2013
Abstract: Coprolites provide unique insights into the plant taxa consumed over a discrete time period by extinct herbivores and have typically been used to reconstruct the diets of single herbivore species. Through ancient DNA, pollen, and plant macrofossil analyses of 51 coprolites deposited by four species of extinct herbivore (the large avian moa of New Zealand) in a single rock shelter, we show the potential for coprolites to also resolve broader paleoecological questions around niche partitioning of extinct sympatric herbivore species and prehistoric herbivore community structure. Such information can help in our understanding of late Quaternary ecosystem functioning and the ecological consequences of prehistoric extinctions, as well as helping to inform rewilding efforts.
Prehistoric Birds and Bats from the Atiahara Site, Tubuai, Austral Islands, East Polynesia
Publisher: Pacific Science
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.2984/65.1.069
New palaeontological data from the excavation of the Late Glacial Glencrieff miring bone deposit, North Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2011
Diet and biology of the laughing owl Sceloglaux albifacies (Aves: Strigidae) on Takaka Hill, Nelson, New Zealand
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-1996
A mid-Pleistocene rail from New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1997
The ‘Gulliver’ fish fauna of an early Miocene freshwater system of New Zealand; new insights from otoliths from the Bannockburn Formation
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2023
Burrowing into the past: Extending modelled breeding niche spaces of burrowing procellariiforms by merging fossil and historic data
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 28-04-2023
DOI: 10.22541/AU.168268191.12497530/V1
Abstract: Predicting species’ potential distributions and niches requires multi-scale data encompassing the past and present. Increasingly, researchers have advocated using historical contexts to inform ecological niche models (ENMs). Two key sources of past distributions are fossils and historical records. Fossils are subject to s ling and taphonomy biases but can offer insights into the temporal dynamics over millennia. Historical records are filtered by human perceptions and biases and have a shorter temporal range but compared to fossils provide different contextual information from a broader range of habitats. New Zealand has a relatively short history of human occupation and rich fossil archives and historical literature. Approximately 25% of the world’s seabirds, nearly half of which are endemic, breed in New Zealand. Since human arrival in New Zealand, many seabird populations have declined in numbers and breeding ranges, primarily due to introduced mammalian predators. Here, we explored the ecological niche space for breeding colonies of three size groups of burrowing procellariiforms using four admixtures of locational records (fossil bones, fossil bones + historical observations, historical observations, and post-1990 observational records). We fitted ENMs using the maximum entropy algorithm and calculated niche metrics. For all groups, the breeding niche space captured separately by the fossils and historical data had low overlap with each other and reflected different environmental aspects. The combined fossil + historic datasets predicted a niche that overlapped the post-1990 observed niche. Moreover, the combination of the fossil and historic datasets demonstrated that breeding grounds, now restricted mainly to predator-free settings, were once more widespread across New Zealand. We show that historical and fossil datasets complement each other mitigating biases unique to either dataset. Together, such records can provide critical insights into the historical drivers of species range contractions, contextualising current ecosystems.
A giant flightless pigeon gen. et sp. nov. and a new species ofDucula(Aves: Columbidae), from Quaternary deposits in Fiji
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2001
An analysis of moa bones (Aves: Dinornithiformes) from three lowland North Island swamp sites: Makirikiri, Riverlands and Takapau Road
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-1989
New data on the Vegavis iaai holotype from the Maastrichtian of Antarctica
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2021
Affinities of Miocene waterfowl (Anatidae: Manuherikia, Dunstanetta and Miotadorna) from the St Bathans Fauna, New Zealand (vol 51, pg 677, 2008)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2009
A swan-sized fossil anatid (Aves: Anatidae) from the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna of New Zealand
Publisher: Magnolia Press
Date: 20-07-1998
DOI: 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5168.1.3
Abstract: A large fossil anserine-like anatid (Aves, Anatidae, Notochen bannockburnensis gen. et sp. nov.) is described based on a distal humerus from the lower Bannockburn Formation, early Miocene (19–16 Ma), St Bathans Fauna from New Zealand. Its morphology and size suggest that this taxon represents an early swan rather than a goose. Extant anserines are split into Northern and Southern Hemisphere clades. The St Bathans Fauna is known to have the oldest anserines in the Southern Hemisphere, unnamed cereopsines perhaps ancestral to species of Cnemiornis (New Zealand geese). The elongate and flat morphology of the tuberculum supracondylare ventrale of the new species, however, preclude affinities with cereopsines. It is a rare taxon and the eighth anatid represented in the fauna and is the largest known anseriform from the Oligo-Miocene of Australasia. We also reassess other large anatid specimens from the St Bathans Fauna and identify Miotadorna catrionae Tennyson, Greer, Lubbe, Marx, Richards, Giovanardi & Rawlence, 2022 as a junior synonym of Miotadorna sanctibathansi Worthy, Tennyson, Jones, McNamara & Douglas, 2007.
Osteology supports a stem-Galliform affinity for the giant extinct flightless bird Sylviornis neocaledoniae (Sylviornithidae, Galloanseres).
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-03-2016
A new look at an old Australian raptor places “Taphaetus” lacertosus de Vis 1905 in the Old World vultures (Accipitridae: Aegypiinae)
Publisher: Magnolia Press
Date: 20-07-2022
DOI: 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5168.1.1
Abstract: The Australian Pleistocene fossil record of the Accipitridae (hawks, eagles and Old World vultures) is sparse and poorly known. Only two extinct confirmed accipitrid species have been described for this time period both have received little investigation since their description. One is “Taphaetus” lacertosus de Vis, 1905, described from a distal humerus and a quadrate from north-eastern South Australia. While this species was verified as an accipitrid in subsequent studies, its more precise taxonomic affinities have remained conjectural. In this study, a new analysis incorporating newly referred material and phylogenetic analyses using a wide range of accipitriforms reveals that the lectotype humerus of “T.” lacertosus is an Old World vulture in the subfamily Aegypiinae. The associated quadrate, one of two original syntypes from which de Vis named this species, is of an indeterminate species of ardeid. We erect the novel genus Cryptogyps, to accommodate the species ‘lacertosus’, as it cannot be placed in Taphaetus de Vis, 1891, because the type species of this genus, Uroaetus brachialis de Vis, 1889, was transferred back to the genus Uroaetus, a synonym of Aquila Brisson, by de Vis in 1905. Further, U. brachialis is now considered a synonym of Aquila audax (Latham, 1801). Moreover, Taphaetus de Vis, 1891 is a senior homonym of Taphaetus de Vis, 1905, type species Taphaetus lacertosus de Vis, 1905, making the 1905 version of the genus unavailable. Newly referred fossils from Wellington Caves (NSW) and the Nullarbor Plains (WA) reveal this taxon had a wide geographical range across Pleistocene Australia. The referred tarsometatarsus lacks hyper-developed trochleae, indicating that Cryptogyps lacertosus (de Vis, 1905) comb. nov., was probably a scavenger like other aegypiines. Identification of Cryptogyps lacertosus as an aegypiine significantly expands the palaeogeographical range of the Old World vultures, hitherto unknown in Australia. The avian guild of large, obligate scavenging birds of prey, is currently absent in the modern Australian biota, but its former presence is not surprising given the megafauna-rich communities of the Pleistocene.
A new species ofGallicolumba:Columbidae from Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2003
Miocene land snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata) from palaeolake Manuherikia, southern New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-02-2017
A bittern (Aves: Ardeidae) from the early Miocene of New Zealand
Publisher: Pleiades Publishing Ltd
Date: 12-2013
An exceptional partial skeleton of a new basal raptor (Aves: Accipitridae) from the late Oligocene Namba formation, South Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-09-2022
Skeletal and dental variation within and betweenMystacinaspecies in southern New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2004
Chatham Island Paleocene fossils provide insight into the palaeobiology, evolution, and diversity of early penguins (Aves, Sphenisciformes)
Publisher: Coquina Press
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.26879/1009
A giant raptor (Aves: Accipitridae) from the Pleistocene of southern Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-03-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S10336-023-02055-X
Abstract: The giant accipitrid Dynatoaetus gaffae gen. et sp. nov. is described from existing and newly collected material. Initial fossil remains were collected from Mairs Cave (Flinders Ranges, South Australia) in 1956 and 1969, and comprised a sternum, distal humerus and two ungual phalanges. A further 28 bones from this in idual—including the neurocranium, vertebrae, furculum, and additional wing and leg bones, most of which were incomplete—were discovered at the site in 2021. This allowed identification of additional fossils from the same species in collections from Cooper Creek (Lake Eyre Basin, SA), Victoria Fossil Cave (Naracoorte, SA) and Wellington Caves (Wellington, NSW). Dynatoaetus has variable similarity across elements to those of living species in the Perninae, Gypaetinae, Circaetinae and Aegypiinae. Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of combined morphological and DNA data resolved it as the immediate sister-group to the Aegypiinae within the Circaetinae + Aegypiinae clade. The robust and eagle-like morphology of the lower hindlimbs suggest that the species was a predator, rather than a scavenger, and thus functionally similar to large circaetines such as the Philippine Eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi . Furthermore, this new species is the largest known bird of prey from Australia, much larger than the modern Wedge-Tailed Eagle Aquila audax . It is outsized in Australasia only by female Hieraaetus moorei (the extinct Haast’s Eagle from New Zealand). It is inferred to have been Australia’s top terrestrial avian predator during the Pleistocene, ranging from arid inland Australia to the more temperate coast, and likely became extinct around the time of the megafaunal mass extinction which peaked around 50 Ka. Its extinction in the late Pleistocene, along with the recently described scavenging vulture Cryptogyps lacertosus , marked a distinct decline in the ersity and function of Australia’s raptor guild.
Prehistoric avifaunas from the Kingdom of Tonga
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 18-11-2020
DOI: 10.1093/ZOOLINNEAN/ZLZ110
Abstract: Avifaunas derived from Lapita archaeological sites excavated between 2004 and 2014 from four sites in the Vava'u Group and two on Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga are described, revealing birds encountered by the first human arrivals. A total of 741 identifiable bones revealed 24 avian taxa, among which terrestrial birds, especially rails, pigeons and parrots, were the most abundant. At a minimum, eight taxa, or 50% of the original non-passerine land bird ersity in the s le, are globally extinct. These include two megapodes (Megapodius alimentum and a larger unnamed megapode), three pigeons (a large Caloenas sp. indet., Didunculus placopedetes and Ducula shutleri sp. nov.), two rails (Hypotaenidia vavauensis sp. nov. and an unnamed one) and the parrot Eclectus infectus. The rail H. vavauensis was restricted to Vava'u and was flightless, with reduced wings, and larger than Hypotaenidia woodfordi of the Solomons, the largest congener hitherto found in the Pacific. The pigeon Du. shutleri was volant, but was the largest species in its genus and was widespread in the Kingdom. The evolution of Tongan avifaunas is related to varying ages (Pliocene to Pleistocene) of the island groups, where geological youth apparently precluded true giantism in the fauna.
Phylogenetic relationships of the Australian Oligo-Miocene ratite Emuarius gidju Casuariidae
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2014
Abstract: In Australia, ratites (Aves: Palaeognathae) are represented in the extant fauna by the family Casuariidae with 1 species of emu Dromaius novaehollandiae and 1 cassowary Casuarius casuarius. The Australian fossil record reveals no other extinct ratite families but there are a number of other casuariid species. Most significant of these, due to its Oligo-Miocene age and because it is known from abundant material, is Emuarius gidju. Here, we describe additional material and confirm that the taxon had a temporal range of Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene (approximately 24-15 Ma). We reveal new morphological details, including notably that the species had relatively much smaller eyes than D. novaehollandiae, in addition to a less well-developed cursorial ability, as inferred from its pelvic limb. In these respects, Emuarius is similar to Casuarius and suggest that it was adapted to denser vegetation than the open woodlands and grasslands that characterise much of Australia today and to which D. novaehollandiae, with its large eyes and enhanced cursorial ability, is strongly adapted. Emuarius was compared to and found to be distinct from the poorly provenanced Australian fossil species C. lydekkeri. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis of morphological data that robustly shows that E. gidju is the sister taxon of Dromaius and together these taxa form a clade that is sister to Casuarius. This indicates that the evolution towards enhanced cursorality that characterises Dromaius took place after the ergence of the emu-cassowary lineages and was likely not the driving mechanism of this ergence. Comparisons between D. novaehollandiae and D. baudinianus revealed no qualitative skeletal differences and we suggest that the latter taxon is best considered to be an island dwarf that should be taxonomically recognized at a subspecific level only.
New specimens of the logrunner Orthonyx kaldowinyeri ( Passeriformes: Orthonychidae) from the Oligo-Miocene of Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-12-2014
Foreword
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 27-10-2012
DOI: 10.3853/J.0067-1975.62.2010.1532
Abstract: This volume comprises the Proceedings of the VII International Meeting of the Society for Avian Paleontology and Evolution (SAPE). The previous six meetings were held in North America, Europe and China. This seventh meeting marks the first gathering of the Society in the Southern Hemisphere. It was hosted by, and held at, the Australian Museum, in Sydney, from 18–23 August, 2008.
Faunal and floral remains from Fl, a cave near Waitomo
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-1984
A new species of Manuherikia (Aves: Anatidae) provides evidence of faunal turnover in the St Bathans Fauna, New Zealand
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2029
Publication of supplementary data for14C AMS ages
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2001
Two late‐Glacial avifaunas from eastern North Island, New Zealand ‐ Te Aute Swamp and Wheturau Quarry
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2000
New prehistoric avifaunas from the Gambier Group, French Polynesia
Publisher: Coquina Press
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.26879/892
A diminutive species of emu (Casuariidae: Dromaiinae) from the late Miocene of the Northern Territory, Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-07-2019
The extinct flightless mihirungs (Aves: Dromornithidae): cranial anatomy, a new species and assessment of Oligo-Miocene lineage diversity.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-02-2016
The unexpected survival of an ancient lineage of anseriform birds into the Neogene of Australia: the youngest record of Presbyornithidae
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 02-2016
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.150635
Abstract: Presbyornithids were the dominant birds in Palaeogene lacustrine assemblages, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, but are thought to have disappeared worldwide by the mid-Eocene. Now classified within Anseriformes (screamers, ducks, swans and geese), their relationships have long been obscured by their strange wader-like skeletal morphology. Reassessment of the late Oligocene South Australian material attributed to Wilaru tedfordi , long considered to be of a stone-curlew (Burhinidae, Charadriiformes), reveals that this taxon represents the first record of a presbyornithid in Australia. We also describe the larger Wilaru prideauxi sp. nov. from the early Miocene of South Australia, showing that presbyornithids survived in Australia at least until ca 22 Ma. Unlike on other continents, where presbyornithids were replaced by aquatic crown-group anatids (ducks, swans and geese), species of Wilaru lived alongside these waterfowl in Australia. The morphology of the tarsometatarsus of these species indicates that, contrary to other presbyornithids, they were predominantly terrestrial birds, which probably contributed to their long-term survival in Australia. The morphological similarity between species of Wilaru and the Eocene South American presbyornithid Telmabates antiquus supports our hypothesis of a Gondwanan radiation during the evolutionary history of the Presbyornithidae. Teviornis gobiensis from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia is here also reassessed and confirmed as a presbyornithid. These findings underscore the temporal continuance of Australia’s vertebrates and provide a new context in which the phylogeny and evolutionary history of presbyornithids can be examined.
Taxonomic review of the late Cenozoic megapodes (Galliformes: Megapodiidae) of Australia
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 06-2017
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.170233
Abstract: Megapodes are unusual galliform birds that use passive heat sources to incubate their eggs. Evolutionary relationships of extant megapode taxa have become clearer with the advent of molecular analyses, but the systematics of large, extinct forms ( Progura gallinacea , Progura naracoortensis ) from the late Cenozoic of Australia has been a source of confusion. It was recently suggested that the two species of Progura were synonymous, and that this taxon dwarfed into the extant malleefowl Leipoa ocellata in the Late Pleistocene. Here, we review previously described fossils along with newly discovered material from several localities, and present a substantial taxonomic revision. We show that P. gallinacea and P. naracoortensis are generically distinct, describe two new species of megapode from the Thylacoleo Caves of south-central Australia, and a new genus from Curramulka Quarry in southern Australia. We also show that L. ocellata was contemporaneous with larger species. Our phylogenetic analysis places four extinct taxa in a derived clade with the extant Australo-Papuan brush-turkeys Talegalla fuscirostris , L. ocellata , Alectura lathami and Aepypodius bruijnii . Therefore, ersity of brush-turkeys halved during the Quaternary, matching extinction rates of scrubfowl in the Pacific. Unlike extant brush-turkeys, all the extinct taxa appear to have been burrow-nesters.
An annotated checklist of the fossil birds of Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2020
Results of palaeofaunal research
Publisher: ANU Press
Date: 12-2009
An early Miocene diversity of parrots (Aves, Strigopidae, Nestorinae) from New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2011
A re-examination of the species Euryapteryx geranoides (Owen) including comparisons with other emeiin moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes)
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-1992
Quaternary fossil faunas from caves in Takaka Valley and on Takaka Hill, northwest Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-1994
Loss of flight ability in the extinct New Zealand duck Euryanas finschi
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-1988
A heron (Aves: Ardeidae) from the Early Miocene St Bathans fauna of southern New Zealand
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 26-05-2010
A megafauna's microfauna: gastrointestinal parasites of New Zealand's extinct moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes)
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 25-02-2013
A sphenodontine (Rhynchocephalia) from the Miocene of New Zealand and palaeobiogeography of the tuatara (Sphenodon)
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 20-01-2009
Abstract: Jaws and dentition closely resembling those of the extant tuatara ( Sphenodon ) are described from the Manuherikia Group (Early Miocene 19–16 million years ago, Mya) of Central Otago, New Zealand. This material is significant in bridging a gap of nearly 70 million years in the rhynchocephalian fossil record between the Late Pleistocene of New Zealand and the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. It provides the first pre-Pleistocene record of Rhynchocephalia in New Zealand, a finding consistent with the view that the ancestors of Sphenodon have been on the landmass since it separated from the rest of Gondwana 82–60 Mya. However, if New Zealand was completely submerged near the Oligo-Miocene boundary (25–22 Mya), as recently suggested, an ancestral sphenodontine would need to have colonized the re-emergent landmass via ocean rafting from a currently unrecorded and now extinct Miocene population. Although an Early Miocene record does not preclude that possibility, it substantially reduces the temporal window of opportunity. Irrespective of pre-Miocene biogeographic history, this material also provides the first direct evidence that the ancestors of the tuatara, an animal often perceived as unsophisticated, survived in New Zealand despite substantial local climatic and environmental changes.
A NEW SPECIES OF OLIGO-MIOCENE DARTER (AVES: ANHINGIDAE) FROM AUSTRALIA
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 2012
Assessing foraging variability on small islands in Manu‘a (American Samoa) during the first millennium BC
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-12-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ARCO.5257
Abstract: Small islands are important model systems for examining the role of people in shaping novel environments and modifying resources through time. Here we report on the vertebrate faunal assemblages recovered from two sites on Ofu and Olosega islands (American Samoa), which were occupied only a few centuries after the initial settlement of the islands. We assess forager decision‐making both locally and regionally as well as changing subsistence regimes. Our results suggest foraging efforts were focused on the marine environment, particularly fish, but with concomitant evidence for interactions with terrestrial habitats (e.g. seabirds) including the introduction of commensal species (i.e. red junglefowl and Pacific rat). Notably we documented a high degree of similarity between the fish species reported archaeologically and those targeted by modern subsistence fishers in the region, which is despite the occurrence of wide scale coastal landscape changes over the past several thousand years. These preliminary outcomes may suggest fish resources have remained stable through initial occupation to the present‐day, but future zooarchaeological research is required to comprehensively evaluate the sustainability of the marine fishery over the past several millennia.
Not like night and day: the nocturnal letter-winged kite does not differ from diurnal congeners in orbit or endocast morphology
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-2022
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.220135
Abstract: Nocturnal birds display erse adaptations of the visual system to low-light conditions. The skulls of birds reflect many of these and are used increasingly to infer nocturnality in extinct species. However, it is unclear how reliable such assessments are, particularly in cases of recent evolutionary transitions to nocturnality. Here, we investigate a case of recently evolved nocturnality in the world's only nocturnal hawk, the letter-winged kite Elanus scriptus . We employed phylogenetically informed analyses of orbit, optic foramen and endocast measurements from three-dimensional reconstructions of micro-computed tomography scanned skulls of the letter-winged kite, two congeners, and 13 other accipitrid and falconid raptors. Contrary to earlier suggestions, the letter-winged kite was not unique in any of our metrics. However, all species of Elanus have significantly higher ratios of orbit versus optic foramen diameter, suggesting high visual sensitivity at the expense of acuity. In addition, visual system morphology varies greatly across accipitrid species, likely reflecting hunting styles. Overall, our results suggest that the transition to nocturnality can occur rapidly and without changes to key hard-tissue indicators of vision, but also that hard-tissue anatomy of the visual system may provide a means of inferring a range of raptor behaviours, well beyond nocturnality.
Extreme reversed sexual size dimorphism in the extinct New Zealand moa Dinornis
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-2003
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE01871
Australlus, a New Genus for Gallinula disneyi (Aves: Rallidae) and a Description of a New Species from Oligo-Miocene Deposits at Riversleigh, Northwestern Queensland, Australia
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 29-06-2011
Recycling of concrete made with brick aggregate: An extended study
Publisher: Coventry University and The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Centre for By-products Utilization
Date: 2019
Is the “Genyornis” egg of a mihirung or another extinct bird from the Australian dreamtime?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
Quaternary fossil faunas from caves on Mt Cookson, North Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-1995
Miocene mammal reveals a Mesozoic ghost lineage on insular New Zealand, southwest Pacific
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 19-12-2006
Abstract: New Zealand (NZ) has long been upheld as the archetypical ex le of a land where the biota evolved without nonvolant terrestrial mammals. Their absence before human arrival is mysterious, because NZ was still attached to East Antarctica in the Early Cretaceous when a variety of terrestrial mammals occupied the adjacent Australian portion of Gondwana. Here we report discovery of a nonvolant mammal from Miocene (19–16 Ma) sediments of the Manuherikia Group near St Bathans (SB) in Central Otago, South Island, NZ. A partial relatively plesiomorphic femur and two autapomorphically specialized partial mandibles represent at least one mouse-sized mammal of unknown relationships. The material implies the existence of one or more ghost lineages, at least one of which (based on the relatively plesiomorphic partial femur) spanned the Middle Miocene to at least the Early Cretaceous, probably before the time of ergence of marsupials and placentals Ma. Its presence in NZ in the Middle Miocene and apparent absence from Australia and other adjacent landmasses at this time appear to reflect a Gondwanan vicariant event and imply persistence of emergent land during the Oligocene marine transgression of NZ. Nonvolant terrestrial mammals disappeared from NZ some time since the Middle Miocene, possibly because of late Neogene climatic cooling.
Description of the Pliocene marsupial Ambulator keanei gen. nov. (Marsupialia: Diprotodontidae) from inland Australia and its locomotory adaptations
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-2023
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.230211
Abstract: Diprotodontids were the largest marsupials to exist and an integral part of Australian terrestrial ecosystems until the last members of the group became extinct approximately 40 000 years ago. Despite the frequency with which diprotodontid remains are encountered, key aspects of their morphology, systematics, ecology and evolutionary history remain poorly understood. Here we describe new skeletal remains of the Pliocene taxon Zygomaturus keanei from northern South Australia. This is only the third partial skeleton of a late Cenozoic diprotodontid described in the last century, and the first displaying soft tissue structures associated with footpad impressions. Whereas it is difficult to distinguish Z. keanei and the type species of the genus, Z. trilobus , on dental grounds, the marked cranial and postcranial differences suggest that Z. keanei warrants genus-level distinction. Accordingly, we place it in the monotypic Ambulator gen. nov. We, also recognize the late Miocene Z. gilli as a nomen dubium . Features of the forelimb, manus and pes reveal that Ambulator keanei was more graviportal with greater adaptation to quadrupedal walking than earlier diprotodontids. These adaptations may have been driven by a need to travel longer distances to obtain resources as open habitats expanded in the late Pliocene of inland Australia.
A new iguanid lizard (Squamata, Iguanidae) from the late Quaternary of Fiji, southwest Pacific
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 03-2003
Affinities of Miocene (Anatidae : Manuherikia, Dunstanetta and Miotadorna) from the St Bathans Fauna, New Zealand
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-04-2008
Osteology ofLeiopelma(Amphibia: Leiopelmatidae) and descriptions of three new subfossilLeiopelmaspecies
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-1987
Decline in distribution of the takahe Porphyrio (= Notornis) mantelli : a re-examination
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-1988
Bird, mammal and reptile remains
Publisher: ANU Press
Date: 12-2009
A new extinct species of Polynesian sandpiper (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae:Prosobonia) from Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group, and the phylogenetic relationships ofProsobonia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-11-2020
DOI: 10.1093/ZOOLINNEAN/ZLAA115
Abstract: We describe a new species of Polynesian sandpiper from Henderson Island, Prosobonia sauli sp. nov., based on multiple Holocene fossil bones collected during the Sir Peter Scott Commemorative Expedition to the Pitcairn Islands (1991–92). Prosobonia sauli is the only species of Prosobonia to be described from bone accumulations and extends the record of known extinct Polynesian sandpipers to four. It is readily differentiated from the extant Tuamotu Sandpiper P. parvirostris in several features of the legs and bill, implying ecological adaptations to different environments. The geographically nearest Prosobonia populations to Henderson Island were found on Mangareva, where it is now extinct. A previous record of a species of Prosobonia from Tubuai, Austral Islands, is here shown to belong to the Sanderling Calidris alba. Our analyses of newly sequenced genetic data, which include the mitochondrial genomes of P. parvirostris and the extinct Tahiti Sandpiper P. leucoptera, confidently resolve the position of Prosobonia as sister-taxon to turnstones and calidrine sandpipers. We present a hypothesis for the timing of ergence between species of Prosobonia and other scolopacid lineages. Our results further provide a framework to interpret the evolution of sedentary lineages within the normally highly migratory Scolopacidae.
Reappraisal of Dinornis (Aves: Dinornithiformes) species—a morphometric analysis
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1994
Multiple occurrences of pathologies suggesting a common and severe bone infection in a population of the Australian Pleistocene giant, Genyornis newtoni (Aves, Dromornithidae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-12-2022
DOI: 10.1002/SPP2.1415
Abstract: Vertebrate fossils showing pathological lesions are incredibly rare, and even more so is the identification of an ailment affecting multiple in iduals in a population. However, the unique Lake Callabonna fossil deposit of South Australia has produced several such fossils from a single species of giant bird. Examination of the Lake Callabonna fossils of Genyornis newtoni , an extinct Pleistocene dromornithid, representing at least 34 in iduals, has resulted in the identification of six osseous pathologies. These lesions are typical of the bone infection osteomyelitis, and affect a sternum, a tarsometatarsus and four phalanges across four in iduals. The identification and description of osteomyelitis in these bones is the first of its kind for extinct galloanseres. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of host deposits shows that these animals were mired in lakebed sediments ranging from 54.2 to 50.4 kyr in age, probably becoming entrapped during a protracted drought phase previously identified as beginning at c . 48 ka and which would have resulted in the lakebed becoming exposed. Additional pathologies are recognized in phalanges of two other dromornithids, Dromornis stirtoni and Ilbandornis woodburnei , from the Miocene Alcoota deposit of the Northern Territory that are also interpreted as drought associated. It is possible that drought‐driven stress and consequent immunosuppressive effects may have contributed to the high frequency of lesions observed in the s led birds.
Histovariability and Palaeobiological Implications of the Bone Histology of the Dromornithid, Genyornis newtoni
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 20-05-2021
DOI: 10.3390/D13050219
Abstract: The bone microstructure of extinct animals provides a host of information about their biology. Although the giant flightless dromornithid, Genyornis newtoni, is reasonably well known from the Pleistocene of Australia (until its extinction about 50–40 Ka), aside from various aspects of its skeletal anatomy and taxonomy, not much is known about its biology. The current study investigated the histology of fifteen long bones of Genyornis (tibiotarsi, tarsometatarsi and femora) to deduce information about its growth dynamics and life history. Thin sections of the bones were prepared using standard methods, and the histology of the bones was studied under normal and polarised light microscopy. Our histological analyses showed that Genyornis took more than a single year to reach sexual maturity, and that it continued to deposit bone within the OCL for several years thereafter until skeletal maturity was attained. Thus, sexual maturity and skeletal maturity were asynchronous, with the former preceding the latter. Our results further indicated that Genyornis responded to prevailing environmental conditions, which suggests that it retained a plesiomorphic, flexible growth strategy. Additionally, our analyses of the three long bones showed that the tibiotarsus preserved the best record of growth for Genyornis.
The Genyornis Egg: Response to Miller et al.'s commentary on Grellet-Tinner et al., 2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2017
First giant bony-toothed bird (Pelagornithidae) from Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-06-2012
Miocene skinks and geckos reveal long-term conservatism of New Zealand's lizard fauna
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-08-2009
Abstract: The New Zealand (NZ) lizard fossil record is currently limited to late Quaternary remains of modern taxa. The St Bathans Fauna (early Miocene, southern South Island) extends this record to 19–16 million years ago (Myr ago). Skull and postcranial elements are similar to extant Oligosoma (Lygosominae) skinks and Hoplodactylus (Diplodactylinae) geckos. There is no evidence of other squamate groups. These fossils, along with coeval sphenodontines, demonstrate a long conservative history for the NZ lepidosaurian fauna, provide new molecular clock calibrations and contradict inferences of a very recent (less than 8 Myr ago) arrival of skinks in NZ.
The evolutionary history of the extinct ratite moa and New Zealand Neogene paleogeography
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 08-12-2009
Abstract: The ratite moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) were a speciose group of massive graviportal avian herbivores that dominated the New Zealand (NZ) ecosystem until their extinction ≈600 years ago. The phylogeny and evolutionary history of this morphologically erse order has remained controversial since their initial description in 1839. We synthesize mitochondrial phylogenetic information from 263 subfossil moa specimens from across NZ with morphological, ecological, and new geological data to create the first comprehensive phylogeny, taxonomy, and evolutionary timeframe for all of the species of an extinct order. We also present an important new geological aleogeographical model of late Cenozoic NZ, which suggests that terrestrial biota on the North and South Island landmasses were isolated for most of the past 20–30 Ma. The data reveal that the patterns of genetic ersity within and between different moa clades reflect a complex history following a major marine transgression in the Oligocene, affected by marine barriers, tectonic activity, and glacial cycles. Surprisingly, the remarkable morphological radiation of moa appears to have occurred much more recently than previous early Miocene ( ca. 15 Ma) estimates, and was coincident with the accelerated uplift of the Southern Alps just ca. 5–8.5 Ma. Together with recent fossil evidence, these data suggest that the recent evolutionary history of nearly all of the iconic NZ terrestrial biota occurred principally on just the South Island.
Osteohistology of Dromornis stirtoni (Aves: Dromornithidae) and the biological implications of the bone histology of the Australian mihirung birds
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-08-2023
DOI: 10.1002/AR.25047
Abstract: The late Miocene Dromornis stirtoni is the largest of the giant flightless dromornithid birds. Here, we studied 22 long bones (femora, tibiotarsi, tarsometatarsi) of D. stirtoni to assess its osteohistology to deduce various aspects of its life history. Our results show that D. stirtoni took several years (likely, more than a decade), to reach adult body size, after which its growth rate slowed down, and skeletal maturity occurred. This growth strategy differs from that of its Pleistocene relative, Genyornis newtoni , which experienced faster rates of growth to reach adult body size. We propose that these mihirung birds, separated by millions of years, each responded to the prevailing environmental conditions of the time, by selecting for different growth strategies, with D. stirtoni having an extreme K‐selected life history strategy. The presence of medullary bone permitted the identification of female D. stirtoni specimens, and its presence in some bones lacking an OCL layer showed sexual maturity preceded its formation. We postulate that while G. newtoni had a somewhat greater reproductive potential than D. stirtoni , it remained far less than that observed in the extant emu ( Dromaius novaehollandiae ). Genyornis newtoni survived into the late Pleistocene alongside extant emus and overlapped the arrival of the first humans in Australia, but the former species shortly thereafter became extinct while emus remain prolific.
Using ancient DNA to quantify losses of genetic and species diversity in seabirds: a case study of Pterodroma petrels from a Pacific island
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-04-2020
The evolution of giant flightless birds and novel phylogenetic relationships for extinct fowl (Aves, Galloanseres).
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 10-2017
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.170975
Abstract: The extinct dromornithids, gastornithids and phorusrhacids are among the most spectacular birds to have ever lived, with some giants exceeding 500 kg. The affinities and evolution of these and other related extinct birds remain contentious, with previous phylogenetic analyses being affected by widespread convergence and limited taxon s ling. We address these problems using both parsimony and tip-dated Bayesian approaches on an expansive taxon set that includes all key extinct flightless and flighted (e.g. Vegavis and lithornithids) forms, an extensive array of extant fowl (Galloanseres), representative Neoaves and palaeognaths. The Paleogene volant Lithornithidae are recovered as stem palaeognaths in the Bayesian analyses. The Galloanseres comprise four clades inferred to have erged in the Late Cretaceous on Gondwana. In addition to Anseriformes and Galliformes, we recognize a robust new clade (Gastornithiformes) for the giant flightless Dromornithidae (Australia) and Gastornithidae (Eurasia, North America). This clade exhibits parallels to ratite palaeognaths in that flight presumably was lost and giant size attained multiple times. A fourth clade is represented by the Cretaceous Vegavis (Antarctica), which was strongly excluded from Anseriformes thus, a crucial molecular calibration point needs to be reconsidered. The presbyornithids Wilaru (Australia) and Presbyornis (Northern Hemisphere) are robustly found to be the sister group to Anatoidea (Anseranatidae + Anatidae), a relatively more basal position than hitherto recognized. South America's largest bird, Brontornis , is not a galloansere, but a member of Neoaves related to Cariamiformes therefore, giant Galloanseres remain unknown from this continent. Trait analyses showed that while gigantism and flightlessness evolved repeatedly in groups, diet is constrained by phylogeny: all giant Galloanseres and palaeognaths are herbivores or mainly herbivorous, and giant neoavians are zoophagous or omnivorous.
An analysis of the distribution and relative abundance of moa species (Aves: Dinornithiformes)
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-1990
Three terrestrial Pleistocene coucals (Centropus: Cuculidae) from southern Australia: biogeographical and ecological significance
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 13-07-2016
DOI: 10.1111/ZOJ.12387
An analysis of skeletal size variation inMystacina robustaDwyer, 1962 (Chiroptera: Mystacinidae)
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1996
A new Eocene species of presbyornithid (Aves, Anseriformes) from Murgon, Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 20-03-2023
A working list of breeding bird species of the New Zealand region at first human contact
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2001
Fish remains, mostly otoliths, from the non-marine early Miocene of Otago, New Zealand
Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk Instytut Paleobiologii (Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Date: 06-2012
Anew cracticid (Passeriformes : Cracticidae) from the Early Miocene of Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2013
DOI: 10.1071/MU13017
An extinct Austral snipe (Aves:Coenocorypha) from New Caledonia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2013
DOI: 10.1071/MU13019
Miocene mystacinids (Chiroptera, Noctilionoidea) indicate a long history for endemic bats in New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2013
First record of Palaelodus (Aves: Phoenicopteriformes) from New Zealand
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 26-05-2010
Wading a lost southern connection: Miocene Fossils from New Zealand reveal a new lineage of shorebirds (Charadriiformes) linking Gondwanan avifaunas.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 13-10-2016
Moa's Ark: Miocene Fossils Reveal the Great Antiquity of Moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) in Zealandia
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 26-05-2010
The effect of climate and environmental change on the megafaunal moa of New Zealand in the absence of humans
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2012
Prehistoric bird extinctions and human hunting
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-03-2002
Avifauna from the Teouma Lapita Site, Efate Island, Vanuatu, including a New Genus and Species of Megapode
Publisher: Pacific Science
Date: 04-2015
DOI: 10.2984/69.2.6
Relict or colonizer? Extinction and range expansion of penguins in southern New Zealand
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 18-11-2009
Abstract: Recent human expansion into the Pacific initiated a dramatic avian extinction crisis, and surviving taxa are typically interpreted as declining remnants of previously abundant populations. As a case in point, New Zealand's endangered yellow-eyed penguin ( Megadyptes antipodes ) is widely considered to have been more abundant and widespread in the past. By contrast, our genetic and morphological analyses of prehistoric, historic and modern penguin s les reveal that this species expanded its range to the New Zealand mainland only in the last few hundred years. This range expansion was apparently facilitated by the extinction of M. antipodes ' previously unrecognized sister species following Polynesian settlement in New Zealand. Based on combined genetic and morphological data, we describe this new penguin species, the first known to have suffered human-mediated extinction. The range expansion of M. antipodes so soon after the extinction of its sister species supports a historic paradigmatic shift in New Zealand Polynesian culture. Additionally, such a dynamic biological response to human predation reveals a surprising and less recognized potential for species to have benefited from the extinction of their ecologically similar sister taxa and highlights the complexity of large-scale extinction events.
A New Fossil Species of ShearwaterPuffinusfrom the Late Quaternary of the South Island, New Zealand, and Notes on the Biogeography and Evolution of thePuffinus gaviaSuperspecies
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-1994
DOI: 10.1071/MU9940201
Pliocene avian footprints from the Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-07-2019
Sheathbill-like birds (Charadriiformes: Chionoidea) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Australasia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 25-07-2016
Ancient mitochondrial genomes clarify the evolutionary history of New Zealand’s enigmatic acanthisittid wrens
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.YMPEV.2016.05.038
Abstract: The New Zealand acanthisittid wrens are the sister-taxon to all other "perching birds" (Passeriformes) and - including recently extinct species - represent the most erse endemic passerine family in New Zealand. Consequently, they are important for understanding both the early evolution of Passeriformes and the New Zealand biota. However, five of the seven species have become extinct since the arrival of humans in New Zealand, complicating evolutionary analyses. The results of morphological analyses have been largely equivocal, and no comprehensive genetic analysis of Acanthisittidae has been undertaken. We present novel mitochondrial genome sequences from four acanthisittid species (three extinct, one extant), allowing us to resolve the phylogeny and revise the taxonomy of acanthisittids. Reanalysis of morphological data in light of our genetic results confirms a close relationship between the extant rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris) and an extinct Miocene wren (Kuiornis indicator), making Kuiornis a useful calibration point for molecular dating of passerines. Our molecular dating analyses reveal that the stout-legged wrens (Pachyplichas) erged relatively recently from a more gracile (Xenicus-like) ancestor. Further, our results suggest a possible Early Oligocene origin of the basal Lyall's wren (Traversia) lineage, which would imply that Acanthisittidae survived the Oligocene marine inundation of New Zealand and therefore that the inundation was not complete.
Moa diet fits the bill: virtual reconstruction incorporating mummified remains and prediction of biomechanical performance in avian giants
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 13-01-2016
Abstract: The moa (Dinornithiformes) are large to gigantic extinct terrestrial birds of New Zealand. Knowledge about niche partitioning, feeding mode and preference among moa species is limited, h ering palaeoecological reconstruction and evaluation of the impacts of their extinction on remnant native biota, or the viability of exotic species as proposed ecological ‘surrogates'. Here we apply three-dimensional finite-element analysis to compare the biomechanical performance of skulls from five of the six moa genera, and two extant ratites, to predict the range of moa feeding behaviours relative to each other and to living relatives. Mechanical performance during biting was compared using simulations of the birds clipping twigs based on muscle reconstruction of mummified moa remains. Other simulated food acquisition strategies included lateral shaking, pullback and dorsoventral movement of the skull. We found evidence for limited overlap in biomechanical performance between the extant emu ( Dromaius novaehollandiae ) and extinct upland moa ( Megalapteryx didinus ) based on similarities in mandibular stress distribution in two loading cases, but overall our findings suggest that moa species exploited their habitats in different ways, relative to both each other and extant ratites. The broad range of feeding strategies used by moa, as inferred from interspecific differences in biomechanical performance of the skull, provides insight into mechanisms that facilitated high ersities of these avian herbivores in prehistoric New Zealand.
Correction to ‘The evolution of giant flightless birds and novel phylogenetic relationships for extinct fowl (Aves, Galloanseres)'
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.171621
Quaternary fossil faunas of Otago, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-1998
The Quaternary fossil avifauna of Southland, South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-1998
Early Miocene fossil frogs (Anura: Leiopelmatidae) from New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2013
High-resolution coproecology: using coprolites to reconstruct the habits and habitats of New Zealand's extinct upland moa (Megalapteryx didinus)
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 29-06-2012
Correction to ‘The unexpected survival of an ancient lineage of anseriform birds into the Neogene of Australia: the youngest record of Presbyornithidae’
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 11-2020
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.201430
Evidence for a giant parrot from the Early Miocene of New Zealand (vol 15, 20190467, 2019)
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 12-2021
Holocene populations of shagsLeucocarbospp. in the far north, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1996
Biogeographical and Phylogenetic Implications of an Early Miocene Wren (Aves: Passeriformes: Acanthisittidae) from New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 24-03-2010
Taxonomy of North and South Island snipe (Aves: Scolopacidae:Coenocorypha), with analysis of a remarkable collection of snipe bones from Greymouth, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2002
A new ektopodontid possum (Diprotodontia, Ektopodontidae) from the Oligocene of central Australia, and its implications for phalangeroid interrelationships
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 30-09-2023
Erratum
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-1998
DOI: 10.1007/BF00831564
Using fossil records to inform reintroduction of the kakapo as a refugee species
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2018
AN OLIGO-MIOCENE MAGPIE GOOSE (AVES: ANSERANATIDAE) FROM RIVERSLEIGH, NORTHWESTERN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-03-2009
DOI: 10.1671/039.029.0103
Twenty-first century advances in knowledge of the biology of moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes): a new morphological analysis and moa diagnoses revised
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2012
Connecting the thigh and foot: resolving the association of post-cranial elements in the species of Ilbandornis (Aves: Dromornithidae)
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-03-2015
On the taxonomic composition and phylogenetic affinities of the recently proposed clade Vegaviidae Agnolín et al., 2017 ‒ neornithine birds from the Upper Cretaceous of the Southern Hemisphere
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2018
Testing species limits of New Zealand's leiopelmatid frogs through morphometric analyses
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-12-2018
Osteological observations on the larger species of the skink Cyclodina and the subfossil occurrence of these and the gecko Hoplodactylus duvaucelii in the North Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-2012
A new species of Mukupirna (Diprotodontia, Mukupirnidae) from the Oligocene of Central Australia sheds light on basal vombatoid interrelationships
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 19-03-2023
Description of the first complete skeleton of the extinct New Zealand goose Cnemiornis calcitrans (Aves: Anatidae), and a reassessment of the relationships of Cnemiornis
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-1997
A new species of lapwing (Charadriidae: Vanellus) from the late Pliocene of central Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-05-2018
The youngest giant: Discovery and significance of the remains of a giant moa(Dinornis giganteus)near Turangi, in central North Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2002
Megafaunal meiolaniid horned turtles survived until early human settlement in Vanuatu, Southwest Pacific
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 16-08-2010
Abstract: Meiolaniid or horned turtles are members of the extinct Pleistocene megafauna of Australia and the southwest Pacific. The timing and causes of their extinction have remained elusive. Here we report the remains of meiolaniid turtles from cemetery and midden layers dating 3,100/3,000 calibrated years before present to approximately 2,900/2,800 calibrated years before present in the Teouma Lapita archaeological site on Efate in Vanuatu. The remains are mainly leg bones shell fragments are scant and there are no cranial or caudal elements, attesting to off-site butchering of the turtles. The new taxon differs markedly from other named insular terrestrial horned turtles. It is the only member of the family demonstrated to have survived into the Holocene and the first known to have become extinct after encountering humans.
Cultural innovation and megafauna interaction in the early settlement of arid Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-2016
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE20125
Abstract: Elucidating the material culture of early people in arid Australia and the nature of their environmental interactions is essential for understanding the adaptability of populations and the potential causes of megafaunal extinctions 50-40 thousand years ago (ka). Humans colonized the continent by 50 ka, but an apparent lack of cultural innovations compared to people in Europe and Africa has been deemed a barrier to early settlement in the extensive arid zone. Here we present evidence from Warratyi rock shelter in the southern interior that shows that humans occupied arid Australia by around 49 ka, 10 thousand years (kyr) earlier than previously reported. The site preserves the only reliably dated, stratified evidence of extinct Australian megafauna, including the giant marsupial Diprotodon optatum, alongside artefacts more than 46 kyr old. We also report on the earliest-known use of ochre in Australia and Southeast Asia (at or before 49-46 ka), gypsum pigment (40-33 ka), bone tools (40-38 ka), hafted tools (38-35 ka), and backed artefacts (30-24 ka), each up to 10 kyr older than any other known occurrence. Thus, our evidence shows that people not only settled in the arid interior within a few millennia of entering the continent, but also developed key technologies much earlier than previously recorded for Australia and Southeast Asia.
Endocranial Anatomy of the Giant Extinct Australian Mihirung Birds (Aves, Dromornithidae)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 15-03-2021
DOI: 10.3390/D13030124
Abstract: Dromornithids are an extinct group of large flightless birds from the Cenozoic of Australia. Their record extends from the Eocene to the late Pleistocene. Four genera and eight species are currently recognised, with ersity highest in the Miocene. Dromornithids were once considered ratites, but since the discovery of cranial elements, phylogenetic analyses have placed them near the base of the anseriforms or, most recently, resolved them as stem galliforms. In this study, we use morphometric methods to comprehensively describe dromornithid endocranial morphology for the first time, comparing Ilbandornis woodburnei and three species of Dromornis to one another and to four species of extant basal galloanseres. We reveal that major endocranial reconfiguration was associated with cranial foreshortening in a temporal series along the Dromornis lineage. Five key differences are evident between the brain morphology of Ilbandornis and Dromornis, relating to the medial wulst, the ventral eminence of the caudoventral telencephalon, and morphology of the metencephalon (cerebellum + pons). Additionally, dromornithid brains display distinctive dorsal (rostral position of the wulst), and ventral morphology (form of the maxillomandibular [V2+V3], glossopharyngeal [IX], and vagus [X] cranial nerves), supporting hypotheses that dromornithids are more closely related to basal galliforms than anseriforms. Functional interpretations suggest that dromornithids were specialised herbivores that likely possessed well-developed stereoscopic depth perception, were diurnal and targeted a soft browse trophic niche.
Letter to the editor
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2004
A phabine pigeon (Aves:Columbidae) from Oligo-Miocene Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2012
DOI: 10.1071/MU11061
The fossil rails (Aves: Rallidae) of Fiji with descriptions of a new genus and species
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2004
Description of Some Post-cranial Bones ofMalacorhynchus scarletti, a Large Extinct Pink-eared Duck from New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-1995
DOI: 10.1071/MU9950013
New species and records of birds from prehistoric sites on Niue, Southwest Pacific
Publisher: Wilson Ornithological Society
Date: 06-2000
A new, large-bodied omnivorous bat (Noctilionoidea: Mystacinidae) reveals lost morphological and ecological diversity since the Miocene in New Zealand
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-01-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-017-18403-W
Abstract: A new genus and species of fossil bat is described from New Zealand’s only pre-Pleistocene Cenozoic terrestrial fauna, the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna of Central Otago, South Island. Bayesian total evidence phylogenetic analysis places this new Southern Hemisphere taxon among the burrowing bats (mystacinids) of New Zealand and Australia, although its lower dentition also resembles Africa’s endemic sucker-footed bats (myzopodids). As the first new bat genus to be added to New Zealand’s fauna in more than 150 years, it provides new insight into the original ersity of chiropterans in Australasia. It also underscores the significant decline in morphological ersity that has taken place in the highly distinctive, semi-terrestrial bat family Mystacinidae since the Miocene. This bat was relatively large, with an estimated body mass of ~40 g, and its dentition suggests it had an omnivorous diet. Its striking dental autapomorphies, including development of a large hypocone, signal a shift of diet compared with other mystacinids, and may provide evidence of an adaptive radiation in feeding strategy in this group of noctilionoid bats.
Validation ofPachyornis australisOliver (Aves; Dinornithiformes), a medium sized moa from the South Island, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-1989
A new species of Proegernia from the Namba Formation in South Australia and the early evolution and environment of Australian egerniine skinks
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 02-2021
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.201686
Abstract: The erse living Australian lizard fauna contrasts greatly with their limited Oligo-Miocene fossil record. New Oligo-Miocene fossil vertebrates from the Namba Formation (south of Lake Frome, South Australia) were uncovered from multiple expeditions from 2007 to 2018. Abundant disarticulated material of small vertebrates was concentrated in shallow lenses along the palaeolake edges, now exposed on the western of Lake Pinpa also known from Billeroo Creek 2 km northeast. The fossiliferous lens within the Namba Formation hosting the abundant aquatic (such as fish, platypus Obdurodon and waterfowl) and erse terrestrial (such as possums, dasyuromorphs and scincids) vertebrates and is hereafter recognized as the Fish Lens. The stratigraphic provenance of these deposits in relation to prior finds in the area is also established. A new egerniine scincid taxon Proegernia mikebulli sp. nov. described herein, is based on a near-complete reconstructed mandible, maxilla, premaxilla and pterygoid. Postcranial scincid elements were also recovered with this material, but could not yet be confidently associated with P. mikebulli . This new taxon is recovered as the sister species to P. palankarinnensis , in a tip-dated total-evidence phylogenetic analysis, where both are recovered as stem Australian egerniines. These taxa also help pinpoint the timing of the arrival of scincids to Australia, with egerniines the first radiation to reach the continent.
Bats that walk: a new evolutionary hypothesis for the terrestrial behaviour of New Zealand's endemic mystacinids
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2009
A late Otiran-Holocene paleoenvironment reconstruction based on cave excavations in northwest Nelson, New Zealand
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-1989
A LARGE FRUIT PIGEON (COLUMBIDAE) FROM THE EARLY MIOCENE OF NEW ZEALAND
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-2009
The phylogenetic significance of the morphology of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx, of the southern cassowary, Casuarius casuarius (Aves, Palaeognathae)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2019
DOI: 10.1186/S12862-019-1544-7
Abstract: Palaeognathae is a basal clade within Aves and include the large and flightless ratites and the smaller, volant tinamous. Although much research has been conducted on various aspects of palaeognath morphology, ecology, and evolutionary history, there are still areas which require investigation. This study aimed to fill gaps in our knowledge of the Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius , for which information on the skeletal systems of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx is lacking - despite these structures having been recognised as performing key functional roles associated with vocalisation, respiration and feeding. Previous research into the syrinx and hyoid have also indicated these structures to be valuable for determining evolutionary relationships among neognath taxa, and thus suggest they would also be informative for palaeognath phylogenetic analyses, which still exhibits strong conflict between morphological and molecular trees. The morphology of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx of C. casuarius is described from CT scans. The syrinx is of the simple tracheo-bronchial syrinx type, lacking specialised elements such as the pessulus the hyoid is relatively short with longer ceratobranchials compared to epibranchials and the larynx is comprised of entirely cartilaginous, standard avian anatomical elements including a concave, basin-like cricoid and fused cricoid wings. As in the larynx, both the syrinx and hyoid lack ossification and all three structures were most similar to Dromaius. We documented substantial variation across palaeognaths in the skeletal character states of the syrinx, hyoid, and larynx, using both the literature and novel observations (e.g. of C. casuarius ). Notably, new synapomorphies linking Dinornithiformes and Tinamidae are identified, consistent with the molecular evidence for this clade. These shared morphological character traits include the ossification of the cricoid and arytenoid cartilages, and an additional cranial character, the articulation between the maxillary process of the nasal and the maxilla. Syrinx, hyoid and larynx characters of palaeognaths display greater concordance with molecular trees than do other morphological traits. These structures might therefore be less prone to homoplasy related to flightlessness and gigantism, compared to typical morphological traits emphasised in previous phylogenetic studies.
Related Organisations
Related Funding Activities
Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP180101913
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 12-2022
Amount: $416,584.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101133
Start Date: 2013
End Date: 12-2016
Amount: $375,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP120100486
Start Date: 2012
End Date: 12-2015
Amount: $369,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100177
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 12-2018
Amount: $290,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP0989969
Start Date: 06-2009
End Date: 12-2013
Amount: $900,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity