Owlet-nightjars are a small group of secretive, nocturnal insectivores, with living species mainly found in New Guinea (also Indonesia, Australia, and New Caledonia), and a recently extinct species in New Zealand. The St Bathans owlet-nightjar was initially described (but not named) from a single bone recovered from 19-16 million-year-old (early Miocene) lake-bed deposits along the true left bank of the Manuherikia River, St Bathans, central Otago. This bone (NMNZ S.42800, a proximal right tarsometatarsus) is held at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Four further bones were subsequently found in the vicinity, leading to the species' description in 2022. These include a distal right tarsometatarsus (the holotype of the species), a cranial part of a right coracoid; a proximal right ulna; and a distal right tibiotarsus. The holotype (NMNZ S.52917) is also held at Te Papa.

The St Bathans owlet-nightjar was smaller than the recently extinct New Zealand owlet-nightjar, and shows more similarity to New Guinean taxa than to the New Zealand or Australian owlet-nightjars. The species name zealandivetus is derived from Zealandia, the continent on which New Zealand is emergent, and vetus, Latin adjective for old or ancient.

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References

Worthy, T.H.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Jones, C.; McNamara, J.A.; Douglas, B.J. 2007. Miocene waterfowl and other birds from central Otago, New Zealand. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 5: 1-39.

Worthy, T.H.; Scofield, R.P.; Salisbury, S.W.; Hand, S.J.; De Pietri, V.; Archer, M. 2022. Two new neoavian taxa with contrasting palaeobiogeographical implications from the early Miocene St Bathans fauna, New Zealand. Journal of Ornithology 163: 643–658. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-022-01981-6

Recommended citation

Miskelly, C.M. 2013 [updated 2022]. St Bathans owlet-nightjar. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz