Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts

A presumed stereospondyl (Amphibia, Stereospondyli) from the marine Triassic of Titiroa Stream, Mataura valley, Southland, New Zealand

R. Ewan Fordyce

Department of Geology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Email: ewan.fordyce@stonebow.otago.ac.nz

Hamish J. Campbell

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30 368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

Anne A. Warren

Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia.

Abstract  A single fossil element from Titiroa Stream, Southland, probably represents a partial clavicle of a roughly 2-m-long member of the Stereospondyli (Amphibia). The fossil is from shallow marine rocks of the Wairuna Peak Group (Murihiku Supergroup, Murihiku Terrane), and is probably of early Middle Triassic age (Etalian Stage). This is the first report of presumed stereospondyls from New Zealand.

Keywords  paleontology; vertebrate; fossil; stratigraphy; new record

R02050 Received 11 November 2002; accepted 3 February 2003; published 30 April 2003
© Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 33, Number 1, March 2003, pp 301-306

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