A Late Cretaceous polar dinosaur fauna from New Zealand

Molnar, Ralph E.; Wiffen, J.

doi:10.1006/cres.1994.1038

Cited by 63 publications

(47 citation statements)

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“…The terrestrial Mesozoic fossil record of New Zealand vertebrates is limited to the non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs of the Late Cretaceous (75-80 Mya) Maungataniwha Sandstone (e.g. Molnar & Wiffen 1994;Molnar et al 1996Molnar et al , 1998. However, most workers have inferred that rhynchocephalians ancestral to the modern Sphenodon were present on New Zealand when it separated from Antarctica and the rest of Gondwana 82-60 Mya (e.g.…”

Section: Fossil Record and Biogeographymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence (Sagan 1996, p. 213), but this also applies to the absence in New Zealand of Cretaceous-Palaeogene rhynchocephalian fossil remains and of Oligocene terrestrial sediments. The sediments may have been eroded away in the 25 million years since their deposition, and known New Zealand Mesozoic localities (comprising shallow marine sediments with transported terrestrial components) have a low preservation potential for small animals; even the recovered pterosaur bone is fairly large (Molnar & Wiffen 1994). We urge further surveying and use of sieving techniques (e.g.…”

Section: Fossil Record and Biogeographymentioning

confidence: 99%

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A sphenodontine (Rhynchocephalia) from the Miocene of New Zealand and palaeobiogeography of the tuatara ( Sphenodon )

et al. 2009

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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.

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Section: Fossil Record and Biogeographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fossil Record and Biogeographymentioning

confidence: 99%

A sphenodontine (Rhynchocephalia) from the Miocene of New Zealand and palaeobiogeography of the tuatara ( Sphenodon )

et al. 2009

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“…It also extends the known northern latitudinal distribution of these animals and contributes to the known biodiversity of ancient Beringia by documenting the occurrence of a fossil vertebrate that had an airborne lifestyle. A pterodactyloid from the Late Cretaceous of New Zealand has previously been reported from a single scapula (Molnar and Wiffen, 1994), so these two records provide a latitudinal range of over 120u for this group. The recognition of the occurrence of these animals at this northern high latitude illustrates the complexity of the food web in the ancient polar to subpolar continental ecosystem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

A pterosaur manus track from Denali National Park, Alaska Range, Alaska, United States

Fiorillo

Hasiotis

Kobayashi

et al. 2009

PALAIOS

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We report on the first record of a pterosaur from Alaska. This record consists of a single manus track from the lower part of the Upper Cretaceous Cantwell Formation in Denali National Park, Alaska, United States, making this the northernmost occurrence for this group of reptiles. The specimen is from deposits that record a low-lying floodplain with small lakes and ponds, dissected by small channels that fed a larger tributary stream on an active fan lobe. The dominant vegetation was comprised of conifers with an understory of ferns and horsetails.

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“…They were widespread by the Late Cretaceous, particularly in the southern continents of Gondwana. A single titanosaurian vertebra is known from early Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of inland northern Hawke's Bay (Molnar & wiffen 1994(Molnar & wiffen , 2007, and I assume a similar progenitor produced these footprints in northwest Nelson. The nature of the footprints is such that I am unable to assign it to any known dinosaurian ichnogenus.…”

Section: Taxonomic Affinitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, work by Joan wiffen and her team of coworkers dating back to the mid 1970s, has firmly established the presence of dinosaur body fossils in New Zealand, from Cretaceous marine strata on the eastern margin of the North Island in Hawke's Bay (Fig. 1;Molnar & wiffen 1994Molnar & wiffen , 2007wiffen 1996). Further records of reworked dinosaur bones have been recorded from early Tertiary marine strata of the Chatham Islands (Stilwell et al 2006), and from Late Jurassic sedimentary rocks at Port waikato in South Auckland (Molnar et al 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First New Zealand record of probable dinosaur footprints from the Late Cretaceous North Cape Formation, northwest Nelson

Browne¹

2009

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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Structures that are interpreted as dinosaur footprints are recorded from six localities within the Late Cretaceous (Maastrictian) aged North Cape Formation of northwest Nelson. These are the first dinosaur footprints to be recognised from New Zealand and the first occurrence of dinosaurs from the South Island, and add considerably to our knowledge of New Zealand dinosaurs, which currently is based on only three dinosaur bone fossil localities. The trace fossils occur within sandstone beds that form part of a succession of intertidal sandstones and mudstones. In cross-section, the footprints form structures with sharp vertical margins, infilled with both massive or laminated sandstone and discrete blocks of sandstone and mudstone. Sediments underlying are either planar with the base of the structures or deformed downward, and overlying sediments drape into the tops of the structures. In plan view, structures are usually roughly circular, with clear margins, and are filled with both blocky and massive sandstone, as well as sandstone with arcuate laminae or low-angle shear planes. One structure is more elongate and appears to represent the left foot impression of a dinosaur.The possibility that these structures were formed by physical or sedimentological processes is ruled out. Based on morphology, it is most likely these structures represent sauropod footprints. Sauropods were large dinosaurs with pentadactyl (5-toed) feet that, based on studies outside New Zealand, produced no clear toe impressions, but rather had a broad club-like footprint. Such a foot would have provided support for these large animals in coastal plain to intertidal settings, dominated by soft sand and mud or waterlogged swampy environments. Based on the age of the formation and knowledge of the evolution of the sauropods, it is further concluded that these structures may represent footprints of the sauropod superfamily Titanosaurida, though it is not possible to characterise them taxonomically any further.

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A Late Cretaceous polar dinosaur fauna from New Zealand

Cited by 63 publications

References 0 publications

A sphenodontine (Rhynchocephalia) from the Miocene of New Zealand and palaeobiogeography of the tuatara ( Sphenodon )

A sphenodontine (Rhynchocephalia) from the Miocene of New Zealand and palaeobiogeography of the tuatara ( Sphenodon )

A pterosaur manus track from Denali National Park, Alaska Range, Alaska, United States

First New Zealand record of probable dinosaur footprints from the Late Cretaceous North Cape Formation, northwest Nelson

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