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| Ardenna buchananbrowni Tennyson, Salvador, Tomotani & Marx, 2024 |
Abstract
We report a new species of shearwater, Ardenna buchananbrowni sp. nov., from the Pliocene of New Zealand. It is both the smallest and oldest known diving member of the genus, demonstrating that this now abundant form of shearwater has had a long presence in southern oceans. Ardenna buchananbrowni sp. nov. is among the few extinct shearwaters described from the Southern Hemisphere and adds to an increasingly diverse seabird assemblage in the Pliocene of the region.
Keywords: biogeography; fossil; Piacenzian; Procellariiformes; Tangahoe Formation; Taranaki; Waipipian
Systematic Palaeontology
Order Procellariiformes Fürbringer, 1888
The present fossils belong to Procellariiformes because of their straight, deeply grooved beaks, prominent dorsally opening nostrils, enlarged nasal glands above the eyes, and long, narrow wing bones.
Family Procellariidae Leach, 1820
The present fossils belong to Procellariidae because of their intermediate size (Diomedeidae are larger, Oceanitidae and Hydrobatidae smaller), gracile beaks, and dorsally projecting nostrils.
Genus Ardenna Reichenbach, 1853
Type species: Procellaria gravis O’Reilly, 1818.
Ardenna buchananbrowni sp. nov.
Alan J. D. Tennyson, Rodrigo B. Salvador, Barbara M. Tomotani and Felix G. Marx. 2024. A New Diving Pliocene Ardenna Shearwater (Aves: Procellariidae) from New Zealand. Taxonomy. 4(2), 237-249. DOI: 10.3390/taxonomy4020012
