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Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstractsMorphometrics of moa eggshell fragments (Aves: Dinornithiformes) from Late Holocene dune-sands of the Karikari Peninsula, New ZealandB. J. Gill** Auckland Museum, Private Bag 92018, Auckland, New Zealand.Moa eggshell fragments were examined from Late Holocene coastal dunes at Tokerau Beach and Matai Bay, Karikari Peninsula, Northland. The Tokerau eggshell fragments, 0.56-1.69 mm thick, were produced by up to six species of moas recorded from the area. A sample of 1042 fragments was bimodally distributed by thickness, with 19% of fragments classed as "thick" (>=1.12 mm thick) and 81% as "thin" (<=1.10 mm). The thin eggshells were probably produced mainly by the small moa Euryapteryx curtus, which dominates local bone assemblages. The small Pachyornis mappini, rare in local bone assemblages, may have produced some of the thin eggshells. Thick eggshell could have been produced by E. geranoides or one or more of the three species of Dinornis. In a sample of 51 eggshell fragments from Matai Bay, all except one fragment were thin. Thickness distributions of thin shell from Matai Bay and Tokerau Beach differed, but the Matai Bay sample may have been too small for reliability. Measurements of the curvature of 237 larger fragments from Tokerau Beach suggested that thick eggshell belonged to eggs 161-216 mm long by 116-155 mm wide, while thin eggshell was associated with eggs 138-179 mm x 99-129 mm, all within the size range of known whole moa eggs.Keywords moa; Emeidae; Dinornithidae; eggshell; fossil; Holocene; thickness; curvature; egg size
(c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 30, Number 2, June 2000, pp 131-145
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