Tina’s giant petrel is the only known fossil species of giant petrel globally. The species is one of a growing number species of seabird found in the rich Pliocene fossil deposits of South Taranaki.

Only two species of giant petrel Macronectes spp. are alive today: the northern giant petrel and the southern giant petrel. Both are very similar in appearance; they are scavengers with 2 m wingspans, living in the Southern Oceans.

Tina’s giant petrel is known from just two fossils – a complete skull and half a humerus. These fossils show that the fossil species was very similar to modern species but slightly smaller. It had a huge bill, like the living species. The fossil humerus shows some features found on the humeri of fulmars Fulmarus, which are close relatives of Macronectes.

The South Taranaki fossils were formed when the bodies of animals sank to the shallow sea floor, then buried and encased in rock. Subsequently, tectonic uplift raised them out of the ocean, where they were exposed on beaches by erosion. Both giant petrel fossils were found by amateur fossil hunter Alastair Johnson and the species is named in honour of his late partner, Tina King. The fossils are held in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.

Today, New Zealand has the richest albatross and petrel (Procellariifomes) fauna in the world. The Taranaki fossil site is now New Zealand’s richest pre-Pleistocene fossil site for Procellariifomes, with four described species: Pom’s shearwater, Alastair’s albatross, the deep-billed petrel and Tina’s giant petrel.

Weblinks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macronectes_tinae

https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2023/02/01/the-first-giant-petrel-fossils/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/amateur-fossil-hunter-discovers-new-species-of-giant-petrel-in-new-zealand-180981703/

https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/small-and-giant-fossil-of-new-species-of-giant-petrel-found-in-new-zealand

https://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2023/05/macronectes-tinae-new-species-of-giant.html#google_vignette

https://www.livescience.com/3-million-years-ago-this-brutish-giant-petrel-likely-eviscerated-dead-seals-with-its-knife-like-beak

https://www.sci.news/paleontology/macronectes-tinae-11694.html#google_vignette

https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/300807856/the-taranaki-fossil-hunters-three-millionyearold-tribute-to-his-lost-love

References

Naish, T.R.; Wehland, F.; Wilson, G.S.; Browne, G.H.; Cook, R.A.; Morgans, H.E.G.; Rosenberg, M.; King, P.R.; Smale, D.; Nelson, C.S.; et al. 2005. An integrated sequence stratigraphic, palaeoenvironmental, and chronostratigraphic analysis of the Tangahoe Formation, southern Taranaki coast, with implications for mid-Pliocene (c. 3.4–3.0 Ma) glacio-eustatic sea-level changes. J. R. Soc. N. Z. 35: 151–196.

Tennyson, A.J.D.; Salvador, R.B. 2023. A New Giant Petrel (Macronectes, Aves: Procellariidae) from the Pliocene of Taranaki, New Zealand. Taxonomy 3: 57–67. doi:10.3390/taxonomy3010006. hdl:10037/29075.

Recommended citation

Tennyson, A.J.D. 2024. Tina’s giant petrel. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz