Trevor H. Worthy
Trevor Henry Worthy (born 3 January 1957) is an Australia-based paleozoologist from New Zealand, known for his research on moa and other extinct vertebrates. Biography Worthy grew up in Broadwood, Northland, and went to Whangarei Boys' High School. He began his career as a largely self-taught palaeontologist, after becoming interested in fossils through caving. Worthy completed his BSc and MSc at the University of Waikato, then did a second Master's degree at Victoria University of Wellington. In 1987, Worthy described three new leiopelmatid frog species from cave subfossils: the Aurora frog (''Leiopelma auroraensis''), Markham's frog (''Leiopelma markhami''), and the Waitomo frog (''Leiopelma waitomoensis''). In the 1990s, he discovered several fossil bird species new to science, including the long-billed wren (''Dendroscansor decurvirostris'') in 1991, Scarlett's shearwater (''Puffinus spelaeus'') in 1991, and the Niue night heron (''Nycticorax kalavikai'') in 1995. In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paleozoology
Palaeozoology, also spelled as Paleozoology (Greek: παλαιόν, ''palaeon'' "old" and ζῷον, ''zoon'' "animal"), is the branch of paleontology, paleobiology, or zoology dealing with the recovery and identification of multicellular animal remains from geological (or even archeological) contexts, and the use of these fossils in the reconstruction of prehistoric environments and ancient ecosystems. Definitive, macroscopic remains of these metazoans are found in the fossil record from the Ediacaran period of the Neoproterozoic era onwards, although they do not become common until the Late Devonian period in the latter half of the Paleozoic era. Perhaps the best known macrofossils group is the dinosaurs. Other popularly known animal-derived macrofossils include trilobites, crustaceans, echinoderms, brachiopods, mollusks, bony fishes, sharks, Vertebrate teeth, and shells of numerous invertebrate groups. This is because hard organic parts, such as bones, teeth, and shells ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Northland Skink
The Northland skink (''Oligosoma northlandi'') is an extinct species of skink which was endemic to the Northland Region of North Island, New Zealand. It is known from late Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ... subfossil remains. References Oligosoma Endemic reptiles of New Zealand Extinct reptiles of New Zealand Reptiles described in 1991 Taxa named by Trevor H. Worthy {{Lygosominae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nelson, New Zealand
(Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = New Zealand , subdivision_type1 = Unitary authority , subdivision_name1 = Nelson City , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_name2 = , established_title1 = Settled by Europeans , established_date1 = 1841 , founder = Arthur Wakefield , named_for = Horatio Nelson , parts_type = Suburbs , p1 = Nelson Central , p2 = Annesbrook , p3 = Atawhai , p4 = Beachville , p5 = Bishopdale , p6 = Britannia Heights , p7 = Enner Gly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Masterton
Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges. It stands on the Waipoua stream between the Ruamahunga and Waingawa Rivers - 100 kilometres north-east of Wellington and 39.4 kilometres south of Eketahuna. Masterton has an urban population of , and district population of Masterton businesses include services for surrounding farmers. Three new industrial parks are being developed in Waingawa, Solway and Upper Plain. The town functions as the headquarters of the annual Golden Shears sheep-shearing competition. Suburbs Masterton suburbs include: * Lansdowne, Te Ore Ore on the northern side * Eastside and Homebush on the eastern side * Upper Plain, Fernridge, Ngaumutawa, Akura and Masterton West on the western side * Kuripuni an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Waitomo Caves
Waitomo is a rural community in the King Country region of New Zealand's North Island. There are several solutional cave systems in the area around the village, which are popular tourist attractions. Restaurants and accommodation are centred in the village to serve visiting tourists. The word ''Waitomo'' comes from the Māori language: ''wai'' meaning water and ''tomo'' meaning a doline or sinkhole; it can thus be translated to be "water passing through a hole". The caves are formed in Oligocene limestone. The historic Waitomo Caves Hotel is located in Waitomo Caves village. History The village Waitomo Caves is named for the hundreds of caves present in the spectacular karst landscape. The limestone landscape of the Waitomo District area has been the centre of increasingly popular commercial caving tourism since before 1900. Initially mostly consisting of impromptu trips guided by local Māori, a large cave system near Waitomo Caves were nationalised by the Crown and manage ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tuatara
Tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name ''tuatara'' is derived from the Māori language and means "peaks on the back". The single extant species of tuatara is the only surviving member of its order. Rhynchocephalians originated during the Triassic (~250 million years ago), reached worldwide distribution and peak diversity during the Jurassic and, with the exception of tuatara, were extinct by 60 million years ago. Their closest living relatives are squamates (lizards and snakes). For this reason, tuatara are of interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids, a group of amniote tetrapods that also includes dinosaurs (including birds) and crocodilians. Tuatara are greenish brown and grey, and measure up to from head to tail-tip and wei ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Central Otago
Central Otago is located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference". The area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River and tributaries. The wide flat plateau of the Maniototo which lies between the upper reaches of the Taieri River and the Clutha's northern tributary the Manuherikia River, Manuherikia is also part of Central Otago. Characterised by cold winters and hot, dry summers, the area is only lightly populated. First significant European occupation came with the discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully near Lawrence, New Zealand, Lawrence in 1861, which led to the Central Otago goldrush. Other towns and villages include Alexandra, New Zealand, Alexandra, Bannockburn, New Zealand, Bannockburn, Clyde, New Zealand, Clyde, Cromwell, New Zealand, Cromwell, Millers Flat, New Zealand, Millers Flat, Naseby, New Zealand, Naseby, Omakau, Ranfurly, New Zealand, Ranfurly, Rox ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saint Bathans Fauna
The St Bathans fauna is found in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group of Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It comprises a suite of fossilised prehistoric animals from the late Early Miocene (Altonian) period, with an age range of 19–16 million years ago. The layer in which the fossils are found derives from littoral zone sediments deposited in a shallow, freshwater lake, with an area of 5600 km2 from present day Central Otago to Bannockburn and the Nevis Valley in the west; to Naseby in the east; and from the Waitaki Valley in the north to Ranfurly in the south. The lake was bordered by an extensive floodplain containing herbaceous and grassy wetland habitats with peat-forming swamp–woodland. At that time the climate was warm with a distinctly subtropical Australian climate and the surrounding vegetation was characterised by casuarinas, eucalypts and palms as well as podocarps, araucarias and southern beeches. The fossilifero ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Museum Of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring from mother Earth here in New Zealand". Usually known as Te Papa (Māori for "the treasure box"), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand and the National Art Gallery. An average of more than 1.5 million people visit every year, making it the 17th-most-visited art gallery in the world. Te Papa's philosophy emphasises the living face behind its cultural treasures, many of which retain deep ancestral links to the indigenous Māori people. History Colonial Museum The first predecessor to Te Papa was the ''Colonial Museum'', founded in 1865, with Sir James Hector as founding director. The Museum was built on Museum Street, roughly in the location of the present day Defence House Office Building. The muse ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Volia
''Volia'' is an extinct monospecific genus of mekosuchine crocodylians from Fiji named in 2002.; ; 2002: An extinct Pleistocene endemic mekosuchine crocodylian from Fiji. ''Journal of vertebrate paleontology'', 22: 612–628. It was around long. Notwithstanding its comparatively small size, it was probably the apex predator of the Pleistocene ecosystems of Fiji. Fossils of ''Volia athollandersoni'', the type and currently only known species, have been found in the Voli-Voli and Wainibuku Caves of Viti Levu Island. The holotype is housed in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. ''V. athollandersoni'' and the other large reptiles of Fiji may have been exterminated by human hunting soon after Fiji was colonized by ancient Polynesians. Etyomology ''V. athollandersoni'' is named after the New Zealand archaeologist Atholl Anderson. Phylogeny A 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular (DNA sequencing), and stratigr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Giant Fiji Ground Frog
''Platymantis megabotoniviti'' is an extinct species of frogs in the family Ceratobatrachidae. The species was described from bones of late Quaternary age from caves on Viti Levu, Fiji. ''P. megabotoniviti'' is much larger than the other two species of ''Platymantis ''Platymantis'' is a genus of frogs in the family Ceratobatrachidae. They are commonly known as wrinkled ground frogs, ground frogs, and forest frogs. As currently defined, ''Platymantis'' is a large genus with up to as many as 60 species fou ...'' known from Fiji, '' P. vitianus'' and '' P. vitiensis''. References Platymantis Extinct amphibians Frogs of Fiji Amphibians described in 2001 {{paleo-anura-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Viti Levu Snipe
The Viti Levu snipe (''Coenocorypha miratropica'') is an extinct species of austral snipe endemic to Fiji. A species of the mostly New Zealand genus ''Coenocorypha The austral snipes, also known as the New Zealand snipes or tutukiwi, are a genus, ''Coenocorypha'', of tiny birds in the sandpiper family, which are now only found on New Zealand's outlying islands. There are currently three living species an ...'', it became extinct after the arrival of humans in Fiji. References Coenocorypha Holocene extinctions Birds described in 2003 Extinct birds of Oceania Taxa named by Trevor H. Worthy {{charadriiformes-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |