This early tropicbird was described from a skull and partial skeleton recovered from 62 million-year-old marine deposits along the Waipara River, North Canterbury, by Leigh Love in December 2020 and February 2021. The fossil bones recovered included the vertebral column, pelvis, right wing and pectoral girdle elements. The Waipara Greensand strata on the Waipara River have produced the oldest named bird fossils known from New Zealand, including this tropicbird, Mannering’s penguin, and Love’s Paleocene seabird.

The genus name is based on ‘Clymene’ (the mother of Phaethon in Greek mythology) and ‘ptilon’ (Greek for feather). The name refers to the phaethontiform (tropicbird) affinities of the fossil and its similarity to Lithoptila (a fossil tropicbird from Morocco).

The holotype skull and partial skeleton (UC 22048) is held at University of Canterbury.

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New fossil species suggests tropicbirds originated in Zealandia

References

Mayr, G.; De Pietri, V.L.; Love, L.; Mannering, A.; Crouch, E.; Reid, C.; Scofield, R.P. 2023. Partial skeleton from the Paleocene of New Zealand illuminates the early evolutionary history of the Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds). Alcheringa 47: 315–326.

Recommended citation

Miskelly, C.M. 2024. Zealandian tropicbird. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz