St Bathans shelduck

Miotadorna sanctibathansi Worthy, Tennyson, Jones, McNamara & Douglas, 2007

Order: Anseriformes

Family: Anatidae

New Zealand status: Endemic

Conservation status: Extinct

Other names: Saint Bathans shelduck, St Bathans duck

 
 
 
St Bathans shelduck. Holotype (right humerus). Specimen registration no. S.042794; image no. MA_I061835. Bed HH1a, Manuherikia River, St Bathans, February 2004. Image © Te Papa See Te Papa website: http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?irn=691004&term=S.042794

St Bathans shelduck. Holotype (right humerus). Specimen registration no. S.042794; image no. MA_I061835. Bed HH1a, Manuherikia River, St Bathans, February 2004. Image © Te Papa See Te Papa website: http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?irn=691004&term=S.042794

The duck bones that dominate bird remains in the St Bathans Fauna include 115 bones (minimum 22 individuals) that were assigned to a new genus and species of shelduck. The genus name is based on the authors’ view that the bird is a Miocene shelduck related to Tadorna (the genus that includes paradise shelduck). The species name reflects that the bird used to live around the old gold mining centre of St Bathans, near where the fossil sites are located.

The St Bathans Fauna waterfowl species (which included five duck species and an unnamed goose in addition to the shelduck) have mainly been defined based on the size and form of their humeri (upper wing bones). The shelduck is the largest described species in the assemblage, which also included two as-yet undescribed species of geese related to the recently extinct New Zealand geese Cnemiornis and Cape Barren goose.

The St Bathans shelduck was slightly bigger than a paradise shelduck, and relatively longer legged. It was described from nine humeri and six coracoids, all from 19-16 million-year-old (Early Miocene) lake-bed deposits near the Manuherikia River, St Bathans, central Otago. The holotype (NMNZ S.42794, a nearly complete right humerus), four paratypes and all associated material are held at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

The presence of a shelduck in Miocene deposits in New Zealand may indicate an Australasian origin for this group.

Weblinks

Te Ara

Te Papa collections

References

Worthy, T.H.; Lee, M.S.Y. 2008. Affinities of Miocene waterfowl (Anatidae: Manukerikia, Dunstanetta and Miotadorna) from the St Bathans Fauna, New Zealand. Palaeontology 51: 677-708.

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.

Recommended citation

Miskelly, C.M. 2013. St Bathans shelduck. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz

St Bathans shelduck

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