Tuatara are the sole surviving members of an ancient group of reptiles that originated at the same time as the rise of the dinosaurs. Photo / Peter Frost
This month’s Nature Talks will be given by Terry Thomsen, an author, lecturer and freelance tour guide based in Christchurch. His talk is titled, “A Closer Look at New Zealand’s Deep Endemics”.
In his talk, Terry will look at New Zealand’s geological and evolutionary history to consider the origins of
some of our “deep endemic” animals—those species and groups that have evolved here over many tens of millions of years and can therefore be considered unique to New Zealand.
Among these are tuatara, the last survivor of an ancient group of reptiles that originated at the same time as the rise of the dinosaurs, and whose origins go back around 240 million years. Whereas fossils of this group have been found on all the major continents, the tuatara is its last surviving member. Sometimes referred to as living fossils, tuatara are now found only at about 32 locations around the country, mostly on small offshore islands.
Another unique group is New Zealand frogs or pepeketua. They are relics of the earliest, “primitive” frogs that branched off the main lineage of frog evolution some 200m years ago and have several distinctive physical and behavioural features that reveal their ancient origins. Today, only three species survive, and all are very rare.
Terry’s talk will also consider the origins and uniqueness of several of our native birds, including the kiwi and the extinct moa, our large parrots - kākāpō, kea and kākā -and the New Zealand “wrens”. The tiny tītitipounamou or rifleman and the pīwauwau or rock wren are the sole survivors of this last group, a sister group to the world’s songbirds, which today constitute more than half of all bird species.
