Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) is a species of flightless parrot endemic to New Zealand.

“Our research has prompted us to rethink our native fauna,” said Dr Paul Schofield, from Canterbury Museum.

“Many species that were thought to be iconic natives of New Zealand – the classic example being the takahe – are now known to be relatively recent species that arrived from Australia only a few million years ago.”

In their study, Dr Schofield and his colleagues focused on the so-called St Bathans Fauna, a collection of more than 9,000 specimens from 33 palaeontological sites and individual deposits near the village of St Bathans in Central Otago, New Zealand’s South Island.

These sites, once the bed of a large prehistoric lake, provide the only significant insight into non-marine life in New Zealand from 20 million years ago (the Early Miocene).

Rare creatures in the St Bathans fauna include: Hercules’ Unexpected a giant parrot that scientists have named Squawkzilla, two mysterious mammals, flamingos, a three-metre crocodile, a giant horned turtle, and a giant bat.

“Twenty-three years of excavations at St Bathans have changed our ideas about the age of New Zealand’s fauna and the importance of some animals over others,” Dr Schofield said.

“For example, we previously thought that birds like kiwis and moas were the oldest representatives of New Zealand’s fauna.”

“We are now beginning to realise that the kakapo, New Zealand’s little wrens and bats, and even the odd freshwater limpet are the true ancient inhabitants of New Zealand.”

The authors conclude that this rare group of animals became extinct as a result of a dramatic drop in temperature over the past five million years or so.

“The work at St Bathans has transformed our understanding of the non-marine vertebrate fauna of New Zealand during the Early Miocene, around 20 million years ago,” Dr Trevor Worthy, from Flinders University, said.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be part of a project that continues to discover brand new things about what animals lived in New Zealand’s lakes, rivers, and surrounding forests at such a pivotal time in history.”

“Every year we find new specimens – amazing discoveries of new species that we never could have imagined when we first started working there.”

“The animals that lived in New Zealand 20 million years ago were very different to those found today,” said Dr Vanessa De Pietri, from the University of Canterbury.

“For example, there was another giant eagle that was not related to Haast’s eagle (Hieraethus Moulay)”

“We had a lot of pretty unusual songbirds, we had alligators and maybe even some small mammals that we call waddling mice.”

“Research is still ongoing to understand what it was exactly.”

This study paper Published in the journal Geobios.

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Trevor H. Worthy othersSummary of the Early Miocene St Bathans fauna of New Zealand. GeobiosPublished online August 6, 2024; doi: 10.1016/j.geobios.2024.03.002

This article has been adapted from an original release by Canterbury Museum.