Jon K. Lindqvist

New Zealand Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene Macrofossil and Pollen Records and Modern Plant Distributions in the Southern Hemisphere

The modern New Zealand flora has a relatively low number of families and genera in relation to land area, but well-preserved macrofossils and pollen from three sites in southern New Zealand suggest that the floras in Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene times were much more diverse at the generic level. At Pikopiko, Southland, a late Eocene in situ forest with fern understory was dominated by conifers, Casuarinaceae, Lauraceae, Nothofagus, Proteaceae, and mesothermal angiosperms including palms (aff. Calamus), Sapindaceae: Cupaniae and Picrodendraceae. At Newvale Mine, Southland, a leaf bed within a thick lignite seam represents leaf fossils preserved in a late Oligocene oligotrophic bog. This site demonstrates that Agathis, Dacrycarpus, Dacrydium, Halocarpus, Microcachrys, Podocarpus and Phyllocladus coexisted with diverse angiosperms including Nothofagus, Gymnostoma, Cunoniaceae, Ericaceae, Sapindaceae and several Proteaceae. Pollen data add Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae and Rubiaceae to the flora. At Foulden Maar, Otago, mummified leaves and flowers, including several with in situ pollen, demonstrate the existence of a diverse flora surrounding an Early Miocene lake. This site contains numerous monocot macrofossils including Astelia, Cordyline, Ripogonum and Typha, as well as the oldest fossils known for Orchidaceae and Luzuriagaceae. This flora was dominated by Lauraceae with affinities to Cryptocarya and Litsea, but other families include Araliaceae, Cunoniaceae, Elaeocarpaceae, Euphorbiaceae sensu lato, Menispermaceae, Myrsinaceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae, Proteaceae and Sterculiaceae. Many ferns, conifers, and Nothofagus are from lineages with Gondwanan ancestors, whereas other taxa show links to Australia (e.g., Gyrostemonaceae), New Caledonia (e.g., Beauprea) and South America (e.g., Luzuriaga, Fuchsia). Many of these taxa are now extinct in New Zealand, and therefore indicate much wider biogeographic ranges for many families and genera in the past.

Late Oligocene‐Early Miocene leaf macrofossils confirm a long history of Agathis in New Zealand

Abstract The antiquity of lineages in the extant indigenous flora of New Zealand is controversial, and plant macrofossils provide important evidence for testing hypotheses for in situ survival of ancient lineages or their geologically recent arrival by longdistance dispersal. Cuticle analysis of organically preserved leaf fossils confirms the presence of Agathis in New Zealand since at least the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. Well‐preserved Agathis foliage occurs in a leaf litter bed within a thick seam of resiniferous lignite in the middle Gore Lignite Measures, Newvale Mine, Waimumu, Southland. The Agathis leaf fossils have some affinities with extant Agathis australis.

Subtropical rainforest vegetation from Cosy Dell, Southland: plant fossil evidence for Late Oligocene terrestrial ecosystems

A fossil flora from the basal Chatton Formation at Cosy Dell farm near Waimumu, Southland, New Zealand comprises wood, seeds, pollen and spores. A Late Oligocene age (25.4–24.4 Ma) determined from macro- and nannofossils constrains the beginning of marine transgression in this area. The palynoflora comprises more than 100 taxa, in addition to a few spores recycled from underlying Jurassic Murihiku basement. At least 16 ferns are present. Conifers include Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae (Dacrydium, Dacrycarpus, Lagarostrobos, Microcachrys, Phyllocladus and Podocarpus). The angiosperm palynoflora comprises monocots including Arecaceae, Asparagaceae, Asteliaceae, Pandanaceae and Typhaceae and numerous dicots including Casuarinaceae, Cunoniaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Loranthaceae, Malvaceae, Myrtaceae, Nothofagaceae, Proteaceae and Strasburgeriaceae. The drift flora includes wood and seeds including the tropical legume Entada. Elongate limpets and mangrove snails provide indirect evidence for seagrasses and mangroves. The predominance of rainforest tree pollen and fern spores suggests a regional subtropical coastal forest and high rainfall.

Geological setting and diverse fauna of a Late Oligocene rocky shore ecosystem, Cosy Dell, Southland

A new fossil locality of Late Oligocene (Duntroonian) age at Cosy Dell farm, Waimumu, southern New Zealand has yielded a diverse array of exceptionally well-preserved fossils derived from rocky shore, sandy beach and estuarine habitats. A lag deposit of Jurassic Murihiku basement boulders and cobbles is overlain by richly fossiliferous, locally concretionary, pebbly shellbeds. The fauna is remarkable for its taxonomic diversity. It includes thick-shelled bivalves and large gastropods, an abundance of juveniles and micromolluscs, and species with nacreous shell and colour patterns preserved. More than 350 species of molluscs are present, including 10 chitons, 90 bivalves and 250 gastropods. Other notable components of the biota include > 125 ostracod species, barnacles, foraminifera, brachiopods, bryozoans, echinoderms, hermatypic corals, otoliths and penguin bones. Oyster-encrusted and pholad-bored boulders, and intertidal and estuarine species indicate proximity to a rocky coastline and estuary, confirming the presence of land in southern New Zealand during Late Oligocene times.

Calamoid fossil palm leaves and fruits (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) from Late Eocene Southland, New Zealand

Late Eocene prickly-leaved and scaly-fruited palm macrofossils are described from Pikopiko, Southland, New Zealand, and compared with extant Arecaceae: Calamoideae. Lamina prickles and scaly fruits support affinities to the subfamily and tribe Calameae and possible association with the extant genus Calamus. Because isolated calamoid leaf fragments and fruit are difficult to determine precisely, the fossils are placed into a new form genus (Calamoides) for the leaves and the existing form genus Lepidocaryopsis for the fruits. These represent the first calamoid-like palm macrofossils from New Zealand and suggest a subtropical to tropical palaeoclimate at far southern latitudes in the Late Eocene and an early, widespread vicariant Gondwanan distribution for the subfamily.

Biodiversity and palaeoecology of Foulden Maar: an early Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit in southern New Zealand

Lee, D.E., Kaulfuss, U, Conran, J.G., Bannister, J.M. & Lindqvist, J.K., August 2016. Biodiversity and palaeoecology of Foulden Maar: an early Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit in southern New Zealand. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518. This paper highlights the biodiversity and palaeoecology of the 23 million year old Foulden Maar, the first Konservat-Lagerstätte deposit described from New Zealand and a key site for reconstructing early Miocene Southern Hemisphere terrestrial ecosystems. The 1000-m-diameter, ca 200-m-deep Foulden Maar volcanic crater lake was a closed system with anoxic bottom waters, capturing and preserving in exquisite detail organisms from the lake and adjacent rainforest. The fossils include numerous leaves, flowers with in situ pollen, fruits, seeds, fish and arthropods. Surrounding Foulden Maar was an evergreen, Lauraceae-dominated notophyll vine forest with a diverse understorey, lianes, epiphytes and mistletoes. Diverse pollination and seed dispersal modes are evident. Fish include larval to adult stages of articulated specimens of Galaxias, some with preserved soft tissue and a species of eel resembling Anguilla. The arthropod fauna comprises ca 20 families in the orders Araneae (spiders), Plecoptera (stoneflies), Odonata (dragonflies), Isoptera (termites), Hemiptera (true bugs), Diptera (true flies), Coleoptera (beetles), Trichoptera (caddis flies) and Hymenoptera (wasps, ants and bees), representing faunas typical of soil, leaf litter, forest floor or freshwater habitats. Many fossil taxa have close relatives in the extant New Zealand biota; others are now locally extinct. Coprolites containing quartz sands sourced from outside the lake indicate the presence of volant birds, presumably waterfowl. The Foulden Maar Lagerstätte is crucial for reconstructing Miocene lake and forest ecosystems in New Zealand, particularly the terrestrial arthropod component. Daphne E. Lee [daphne.lee@otago.ac.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand., Uwe Kaulfuss [uwe.kaulfuss@otago.ac.nz] and Jon K. Lindqvist, [jonlind@ihug.co.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand; John G. Conran [john.conran@adelaide.edu.au], Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, School of Biological Sciences, Benham Bldg DX 650 312, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia; Jennifer M. Bannister [jennifer.bannister@xtra.co.nz], Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Miocene Fossils Reveal Ancient Roots for New Zealand’s Endemic Mystacina (Chiroptera) and Its Rainforest Habitat

The New Zealand endemic bat family Mystacinidae comprises just two Recent species referred to a single genus, Mystacina. The family was once more diverse and widespread, with an additional six extinct taxa recorded from Australia and New Zealand. Here, a new mystacinid is described from the early Miocene (19–16 Ma) St Bathans Fauna of Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand. It is the first pre-Pleistocene record of the modern genus and it extends the evolutionary history of Mystacina back at least 16 million years. Extant Mystacina species occupy old-growth rainforest and are semi-terrestrial with an exceptionally broad omnivorous diet. The majority of the plants inhabited, pollinated, dispersed or eaten by modern Mystacina were well-established in southern New Zealand in the early Miocene, based on the fossil record from sites at or near where the bat fossils are found. Similarly, many of the arthropod prey of living Mystacina are recorded as fossils in the same area. Although none of the Miocene plant and arthropod species is extant, most are closely related to modern taxa, demonstrating potentially long-standing ecological associations with Mystacina.

Geological setting, sedimentology and biota of the estuarine late Oligocene Pomahaka Formation, New Zealand

ABSTRACT Pomahaka Formation, a late Oligocene succession of interbedded mudstone, lignite, shell beds and thin sands, was studied in small exposures along the Pomahaka River near Tapanui, Otago and in four adjacent sections in Waikoikoi Creek where about 17 × 0.25–4.0 m thick facies cycles were exposed. At the base of an ‘ideal’ cycle, thinly laminated sandy mudstone overlying lignite of the previous cycle records transgressive flooding of forest swamp by fresh or estuarine waters. Laminated shelly mudstone containing venerid bivalves (Hinemoana acuminata) forming the middle of several cycles represents maximum marine flooding. Above this, trough cross-stratified beds and sand with mud flaser laminae record progradation of distributary bars and/or intertidal sands. Finally, deposition of root-burrowed mudstone and lignite mark the re-establishment of swamp forest. Predominantly muddy sediment texture, the association of lignite, distinctive fresh- and brackish-water faunas and thin depositional cycles indicate a microtidal estuarine paleo-environment in southern Zealandia during late Oligocene time.