| Abstract: | New fossils of dinosaurs and pterosaurs have been found in the conglomeratic facies of the Maungataniwha Member of the Tahora Formation (Campanian) of New Zealand. These derive from a large theropod, a sauropod, an ankylosaur and a pterosaur. Together with previously described material they indicate at least five, maybe seven, taxa from the Late Cretaceous terrestrial fauna of New Zealand. At that time New Zealand was an island near Antarctica, so this represents an insular, polar fauna.We assume a vicariance model for the origin of this fauna, which probably samples that present in Antarctica at the time New Zealand rifted away from it. The fauna differs from other well known Cretaceous Gondwana faunas in including an ankylosaur, but is similar to that from the Late Early Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia. The inclusion of both an ankylosaur and sauropod lend a relict, Early Cretaceous aspect to the fauna. There seems to be no particular similarity to known polar faunas from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria, Australia, or the Late Cretaceous of Alaska and Antarctica.Dinosaurs, both large and small, were capable of surviving in the cool to cold-temperate, seasonal climate of New Zealand at this time. |
