Tiny Bones Rewrite Texbooks: First New Zealand Land Mammal Fossil

University South Wales ^ | 12-15-2006

[blam]

TINY BONES REWRITE TEXTBOOKS: first New Zealand land mammal fossil

Part of the fossilised jaw

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Part of the fossilised femur

Small but remarkable fossils found in New Zealand will prompt a major rewrite of prehistory textbooks, showing for the first time that the so-called "land of birds" was once home to mammals as well. The tiny fossilised bones - part of a jaw and hip - belonged to a unique, mouse-sized land animal unlike any other mammal known and were unearthed from the rich St Bathans fossil bed, in the Otago region of South Island.

But the real shock to scientists was that it was there at all: until now, decades of searching had shown no hint that the furry, warm-blooded animals that thrived and prospered so widely in other lands had ever trodden on New Zealand soil.

The fact that even one land mammal had lived there, at least 16 million years ago, has put paid to the theory that New Zealand's rich bird fauna had evolved there because they had no competition from land mammals.

An international team led by Trevor Worthy, of the University of Adelaide, Alan Tennyson, of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and Mike Archer, of the University of New South Wales, note that New Zealand separated from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana more than 80 million years ago. The research has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Amazing find hints at more

"This amazing find suggests that other mammals are waiting to be found there, and that New Zealand belonged to the birds only in more recent times," says Mr Worthy.

"It also suggests that New Zealand was not completely submerged, as some scientists thought, when sea levels were high about 25 to 30 million years ago."

The team believes that more mammal specimens may emerge, perhaps even other species that predate the split between pouched marsupials and live-bearing placental mammals.

The St Bathans fossil field - which has also produced many other species of animals, including fish and birds - also promises to shed new light on climate change in the Australasian region, recording a massive shift from a warm, wet phase to a much cooler and drier period.

"This promises to be a richly rewarding fossil field and the heraldic discovery of New Zealand's first non-flying mammal represents just the first page of a fascinating new chapter in the history of the world's mammals," says Professor Archer.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Darksheare]

Didn't New Zealand once have a large predatory ground bird that is now extinct?
Or am I thinking of someplace else?

[blam]

Moa Bird (New Zealand) (Probably ate all the mammals,lol)

[Doc Savage]

Rewritten like "Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny?????"

[Darksheare]

That's the bird.
Thanks!
Yes, it probably ate all the mammals, then had no other food source, died out likely, joined politics probably.
*chuckle*

[editor-surveyor]

Inconvenient fact ping.

[trisham]

Inconvenient and interesting.

[avg_freeper]

Perhaps the mammal hitched a ride on a bird.

I wonder what size of mammal a swallow could carry?

[calex59]

I don't know if it was pedatory or not but,yes, they had a large, I believe flightless, bird that recently(within several centuries)went extinct.

[Darksheare]

Yeah, I was just reading about it on messybeast.com, but the site went down while I was reading.
*sigh*

If it was predatory, that would explain the missing mini mammals.

[caffe]

LOL, It's going to be interesting to see how they come up with another bogus theory to explain this. The problem is that it appears more fossils will be found....oh gee.what will they do if a real "human" is discovered?
Of course, true factual scientific facts never conflict with view of creation. Good catch!

[Creationist]

Sedimentary layers are best explained by a world wide flood around 4500 years ago.

They are a product of liquefaction and hydrological classification...

I find it interesting they thought the world seas were higher then present day... it is also interesting that it was after the age they give for dinosaurs living on the planet.

[metmom]

"This amazing find suggests that other mammals are waiting to be found there, ...

Ya don't think.

[Verginius Rufus]

Of the four orders of living reptiles, one survives only in New Zealand (the tuatara).

The other three are turtles, crocodilians, and snakes & lizards (one order).

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. Mammal told me there'd be days like this. :') The classics never wear out...

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[JCEccles]

Didn't New Zealand once have a large predatory ground bird that is now extinct?

Yeah. The Maoris ate 'em all and now there ain't no moa.

[Darksheare]

LOL!
Thanks, I needed a laugh this morning.

[csense]

Thanks for the ping

[RobbyS]

Suggesting how little we know.