New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics abstracts
A probable theropod bone from the latest Jurassic of New Zealand
RALPH E. MOLNAR
Queensland Museum
P.O. Box 3300
Brisbane, Queensland, 4101, Australia
JOAN WIFFEN
138 Beach Road
Haumoana
Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
BRENDAN HAYES
9A Esmonde Road
Takapuna
Auckland, New Zealand
Abstract A small bone found in the Huriwai Measures (Late
Tithonian) south of the Waikato River, North Island, represents the first
terrestrial tetrapod bone from the Jurassic of New Zealand. The bone, a
phalanx, is hollow and is probably from a small theropod. Phalanges are not all
uniform in form, and this one has a characteristic distal expansion that should
permit identification should more complete specimens be found. Plant fossils
from the Huriwai Measures suggest a forested environment. The specimen
indicates that dinosaurs probably continuously inhabited what is now New
Zealand at least from the Late Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous.
Keywords Jurassic; Huriwai Measures; theropod; Tithonian;
paleozoogeography; phalanges
New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 1998, Vol. 41: 145-148
0028-8306/98/4102-0145 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1998
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (483K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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