A New Diving Pliocene <i>Ardenna</i> Shearwater (Aves: Procellariidae) from New Zealand
Alan J. D. Tennyson,
Rodrigo B. Salvador,
Barbara M. Tomotani,
Felix G. Marx
Affiliations
Alan J. D. Tennyson
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, P.O. Box 467, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Rodrigo B. Salvador
The Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, Lars Thørings veg 10, 9006 Tromsø, Norway
Barbara M. Tomotani
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, Framstredet 43, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
Felix G. Marx
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, P.O. Box 467, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
We report a new species of shearwater, Ardenna buchananbrowni sp. nov., from the Pliocene of New Zealand. It is both the smallest and oldest known diving member of the genus, demonstrating that this now abundant form of shearwater has had a long presence in southern oceans. Ardenna buchananbrowni sp. nov. is among the few extinct shearwaters described from the Southern Hemisphere and adds to an increasingly diverse seabird assemblage in the Pliocene of the region.
