A new species of the diving duck Manuherikia and evidence for geese (Aves : Anatidae : Anserinae) in the St Bathans Fauna (Early Miocene), New Zealand

Abstract

A new species of the diving duck Manuherikia, larger than its two congeners, is described based on a humerus and several referred ulnae from the St Bathans Fauna, lower Bannockburn Formation, Manuherikia Group, of Early Miocene (19–16 Ma) age, in New Zealand. Evidence for anserines in the St Bathans Fauna is evaluated. Two coracoid fragments, a scapula and a proximal radius reveal a goose most similar to Cereopsis and Cnemiornis, so indicating the presence of the Cnemiornis lineage in New Zealand in the Early Miocene. Two more coracoids are provisionally interpreted as a small unusual anserine perhaps close to Cereopsis. These records extend the diversity of waterfowl described from the St Bathans Fauna to six named species in four genera, plus an additional two unnamed anserines, globally the richest Miocene waterfowl fauna known.