Late Holocene extinction of the New Zealand owlet‐nightjar Aegotheles novaezealandiae

Abstract

The New Zealand owlet‐nightjar (Aegotheles novaezealandiae) was a small (c. 150 g), almost flightless endemic bird that was widely distributed before human settlement. It was extinct before European settlement and has not so far been found definitely in a Polynesian cultural context. A series of accelerator mass spectrometry ¹⁴C ages on gelatin from owlet‐nightjar bones from non‐cultural deposits was analysed using Bayesian statistics. The results indicate that the owlet‐nightjar may have begun to decline before Polynesian settlement. Such a decline would be consistent with the effects of predation by a new predator—most probably the Pacific rat Rattus exulans.

Keywords:

• New Zealand owlet‐nightjar
• Aegotheles novaezealandiae
• extinction
• Rattus exulans
• predation
• human impact

Notes

Palaecol Research, P.O. Box 16 569, Christchurch, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]

Centre for Archaeological Research, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92 109, Auckland, New Zealand.

Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 31312, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.