Overview
- The Moa Eggshell Cave near Waitomo contains the first Early Pleistocene terrestrial vertebrate fauna recorded from a New Zealand cave.
- Researchers identified fossils from 12 bird species and four frog species preserved between ash from eruptions about 1.55 million and 1.0 million years ago.
- The assemblage includes a newly described parrot, Strigops insulaborealis, an ancient relative of the kākāpō that may have flown, a point the authors say requires further study.
- Comparisons across sites indicate roughly 33–50% of species were lost in the million years before human arrival, linked to rapid climate shifts and major eruptions.
- The multidisciplinary team from Flinders University, Canterbury Museum, and New Zealand universities reports the site as the oldest known cave on the North Island and a critical gap-filler in the fossil record.