A team of paleontologists from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand discovered the fossilized bones of a distant ancestor of modern tropical birds in Waipara Greensand in the south of the country. According to the scientists, this finding shows that all tropical bird species originate from this region. To work published In the scientific journal Alcheringa: Australasian Journal of Paleontology.
The approximately 62-million-year-old fossil was the skull, wing, and pelvis of the Clymenoptilon novaezealandicum, or Zeeland tropical bird.
In 2019, the remains of a primitive bone-toothed bird and several penguin species were found in Waipara Green Sands. According to the researchers, their presence indicates that the islands were the center of seabird diversity after the mass extinction 66 million years ago, which was known to lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Formerly paleontologists to create The “ice rat” that survived the arctic dinosaurs.