Fred Ruhe
Well-known member
Alan J.D. Tennyson and Al A. Mannering, 2018
A new species of Pliocene shearwater (Aves: Procellariidae) from New Zealand
Tuhinga 29: 1–19
Free pdf: https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/sites/default/files/tuhinga29_1-shearwater.pdf
Abstract:
We describe two partial but well-preserved Late Pliocene fossil skeletons
from Taranaki, New Zealand, as a new species of seabird. In structure, these bones match those of a shearwater (Procellariiformes: Procellariidae) but the new taxon is distinguished from all known extant and extinct taxa by a unique combination of features. It was a gliding species as large as the largest species of extant shearwater. It represents the first pre-Pleistocene record of a new shearwater taxon from the western Pacific and helps reveal the history of shearwater evolution. Today, New Zealand has the greatest diversity of breeding shearwater species in the world, and the new fossil adds weight to other evidence that shearwaters have a long history in this region.
This paper describes Ardenna davealleni Tennyson & Mannering, sp. nov.
Systematic Palaeontology
Order PROCELLARIIFORMES
Family PROCELLARIIDAE Leach, 1820
Ardenna Reichenbach, 1853
Type Species: Ardenna gravis (O’Reilly, 1818)
Ardenna davealleni Tennyson & Mannering, sp. nov.
Holotype: NMNZ S.45183: Partial skeleton collected by D. Allen, 8 October 2006.
Holotype locality and age: Ohawe Beach, south Taranaki, New Zealand (39˚35.72′ S, 174˚12.90′ E); Waipipian (3.0–3.6 Ma, Late Pliocene). (FR Number Q21/F0175.) Mollusc fossils in the concretion were identified as Dosinia sp. cf. D. lambata and Maorimactra sp. cf. M. ordinaria (B. Marshall, pers. comm., 2014). Dosinia lambata has a currently accepted age as ranging from Duntroonian (Late Oligocene) to Holocene, and M. ordinaria is also extant and its fossils are found as far back as the Opoitian (Pliocene) (B. Marshall, pers. comm., 2014).
These age ranges are consistent with the Waipipian (Pliocene) age previously attributed to these deposits (e.g. McKee 1985, 1988, 1994). Minimum storm base wave depth indicates that the fossil bird’s depositional water depth may have been 50 m or more (Peters & Loss 2012) in order for the skeleton to have remained partly intact. However, the presence of some of the mollusc species in ‘life position’ suggests a shallower depth, as pecimens in the Te Papa collection (n = 185 ‘lots’ for both mollusc species combined) were collected live between 4 m and 48 m (B. Marshall, pers. comm., 2015; see also McKee 1994).
Etymology: The species name honours Dave Allen of New Plymouth, the collector and donor of the holotype.
Enjoy,
Fred
A new species of Pliocene shearwater (Aves: Procellariidae) from New Zealand
Tuhinga 29: 1–19
Free pdf: https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/sites/default/files/tuhinga29_1-shearwater.pdf
Abstract:
We describe two partial but well-preserved Late Pliocene fossil skeletons
from Taranaki, New Zealand, as a new species of seabird. In structure, these bones match those of a shearwater (Procellariiformes: Procellariidae) but the new taxon is distinguished from all known extant and extinct taxa by a unique combination of features. It was a gliding species as large as the largest species of extant shearwater. It represents the first pre-Pleistocene record of a new shearwater taxon from the western Pacific and helps reveal the history of shearwater evolution. Today, New Zealand has the greatest diversity of breeding shearwater species in the world, and the new fossil adds weight to other evidence that shearwaters have a long history in this region.
This paper describes Ardenna davealleni Tennyson & Mannering, sp. nov.
Systematic Palaeontology
Order PROCELLARIIFORMES
Family PROCELLARIIDAE Leach, 1820
Ardenna Reichenbach, 1853
Type Species: Ardenna gravis (O’Reilly, 1818)
Ardenna davealleni Tennyson & Mannering, sp. nov.
Holotype: NMNZ S.45183: Partial skeleton collected by D. Allen, 8 October 2006.
Holotype locality and age: Ohawe Beach, south Taranaki, New Zealand (39˚35.72′ S, 174˚12.90′ E); Waipipian (3.0–3.6 Ma, Late Pliocene). (FR Number Q21/F0175.) Mollusc fossils in the concretion were identified as Dosinia sp. cf. D. lambata and Maorimactra sp. cf. M. ordinaria (B. Marshall, pers. comm., 2014). Dosinia lambata has a currently accepted age as ranging from Duntroonian (Late Oligocene) to Holocene, and M. ordinaria is also extant and its fossils are found as far back as the Opoitian (Pliocene) (B. Marshall, pers. comm., 2014).
These age ranges are consistent with the Waipipian (Pliocene) age previously attributed to these deposits (e.g. McKee 1985, 1988, 1994). Minimum storm base wave depth indicates that the fossil bird’s depositional water depth may have been 50 m or more (Peters & Loss 2012) in order for the skeleton to have remained partly intact. However, the presence of some of the mollusc species in ‘life position’ suggests a shallower depth, as pecimens in the Te Papa collection (n = 185 ‘lots’ for both mollusc species combined) were collected live between 4 m and 48 m (B. Marshall, pers. comm., 2015; see also McKee 1994).
Etymology: The species name honours Dave Allen of New Plymouth, the collector and donor of the holotype.
Enjoy,
Fred
