A mid-Pliocene shearwater skull (Aves: Procellariidae:Puffinus) from the Taihape Mudstone, central North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

A fossil skull of Puffinus sp. (Aves: Procellariidae), 85 mm long, is reported from the mid-Pliocene Taihape Mudstone (3.220Á3.110 Ma; Waipipian Stage) at Mataroa, near Taihape, central North Island, New Zealand. This is the first described evidence for Puffinus in New Zealand's pre-Pleistocene fossil record. The skull belonged to a shearwater of a species close in skull size and proportions to the present-day wedge-tailed shearwater (P. pacificus). It could be conspecific with P. pacificus, or of the ancestral species from which P. pacificus evolved. Certainty on that point is difficult with a sample of one and less than perfect preservation and exposure, however. The Mataroa fossil, and undescribed fossil evidence from Hawera, Taranaki, establish the presence of a shearwater fauna of at least several species in Pliocene coastal waters off the North Island of New Zealand. This is unsurprising given the importance of procellariiforms in New Zealand's current avifauna.

Sea surface temperature, rather than land mass or geographic distance, may drive genetic differentiation in a species complex of highly dispersive seabirds

“…Actually, using the same value as Austin et al, and only sequences from cytb , we found a divergence time of 2.2–3.8 My, thus very close to Austin et al Many substitution rates for both Mt DNA markers were proposed for petrels, ranging from 0.19%/My (Pacheco et al, 2011) to 1.544%/My (Pereira & Baker, 2006) for cox1 , and from 0.18%/My (Pacheco et al, 2011) to 0.88–0.92%/My (Nunn & Stanley, 1998; the latter rate was used by Austin et al), 1.022%/My (Pereira & Baker, 2006), and 1.89%/My (Weir & Schluter, 2008) for cytb . Using the lowest substitution rates (Pacheco et al, 2011) resulted in a divergence time between Atlantic and Indo‐Pacific lineages around 12.8 My ago (Supplementary Material ), an unlikely value given the presence of an ocean between the Americas before the Isthmus of Panama erected, despite the fact that Puffinus is dating back to the Oligocene (Henderson & Gill, 2010). Here, we used the substitution rates that were estimated in Nabholz et al (2016), as the most recent review.…”

Sea surface temperature, rather than land mass or geographical distance, may drive genetic differentiation in a species complex of highly-dispersive seabirds

“…This latter parameter is probably a major contributor to the difference observed between our studies, since using the same value as Austin et al, and only sequences from cytb , we found a divergence time of 2.2-3.8 My, thus very close to Austin et al Many substitution rates for both Mt DNA markers were proposed for petrels, ranging from 0.19%/My (Pacheco et al 2011) to 1.544%/My (Pereira & Baker 2006) for cox1 , and from 0.18%/My (Pacheco et al 2011) to 0.88-0.92%/My (Nunn & Stanley 1998; the latter rate was used by Austin et al), 1.022%/My (Pereira & Baker 2006) and 1.89%/My (Weir & Schluter 2008) for cytb . Using lowest rates (Pacheco et al 2011) resulted in a divergence time between Atlantic and Indo-Pacific lineages around 12.8 My ago (Supplementary Material 10), an unlikely value given the presence of an ocean between the Americas before the Isthmus of Panama erected, despite the fact thatPuffinus is dating back to the Oligocene (Henderson & Gill 2010). Here we used the substitution rates that were estimated in Nabholz et al 2016, as the most recent review.…”

A New Diving Pliocene Ardenna Shearwater (Aves: Procellariidae) from New Zealand

“…A record of Pliocene 'Puffinus' from near Taihape, from similarly aged deposits as those that yielded A. buchananbrowni sp. nov., remains unnamed [35].…”