A probable theropod bone from the latest Jurassic of New Zealand

Abstract

A small bone found in the Huriwai Measures (Late Tithonian) south of the Waikato River, North Island, represents the first terrestrial tetrapod bone from the Jurassic of New Zealand. The bone, a phalanx, is hollow and is probably from a small theropod. Phalanges are not all uniform in form, and this one has a characteristic distal expansion that should permit identification should more complete specimens be found. Plant fossils from the Huriwai Measures suggest a forested environment. The specimen indicates that dinosaurs probably continuously inhabited what is now New Zealand at least from the Late Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous.

Keywords:

• Jurassic
• Huriwai Measures
• theropod
• Tithonian
• paleozoogeography
• phalanges