Fleury Kane, Burns Emma, Richards Marcus D, Norton Kevin, Read Stephen, Wesley Rachel, Ewan Fordyce R, Wilcken Klaus
Tūhura Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Department of Geology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
J R Soc N Z. 2023 Nov 14;54(5):620-642. doi: 10.1080/03036758.2023.2264789. eCollection 2024.
In March, 2019, a trackway of seven footprints was found at a riverbank outcrop of Maniototo Conglomerate Formation in the Kyeburn River, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand. In this study, we describe this first known occurrence of moa (Dinornithiformes) footprints to be found and recovered in Te Waipounamu/South Island. Footprints of the trackway were ∼46 mm deep, 272-300 mm wide and 260-294 mm in length. An associated separate footprint was 448 mm wide and 285 mm long. Cosmogenic nuclide dating of adjacent overlying beds from the same formation establishes a mean minimum age of burial age for the tracks of 3.57 Ma (+1.62/-1.18 Ma) with a mode of 2.9 Ma, which we interpret to be Late Pliocene, with a conservative age range of Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. The trackway maker is identified as a moa from the Emeidae family, probably from the genus , with a mean mass of 84.61 kg that was travelling at a speed of 2.61 kmh. The single adjacent footprint was made by an individual from the family Dinornithidae, most likely from the genus with an estimated mass of 158 kg. These moa footprints represent the second earliest fossil record of moa.
2019年3月，在新西兰南岛奥塔哥中部凯伯恩河的马尼奥托托砾岩组河岸露头处发现了一条有七个脚印的足迹化石。在本研究中，我们描述了在蒂瓦普纳穆/南岛首次发现并采集到的恐鸟（恐鸟目）足迹化石。该足迹化石的脚印深度约为46毫米，宽272 - 300毫米，长260 - 294毫米。一个与之相关的单独脚印宽448毫米，长285毫米。对同一地层相邻上覆岩层进行宇宙成因核素测年，确定这些足迹的平均最小埋藏年龄为357万年（±162万年/ - 118万年），众数年龄为290万年，我们将其解释为上新世晚期，保守年龄范围为上新世至更新世早期。该足迹化石的制造者被确定为艾梅恐鸟科的一种恐鸟，可能属于 属，平均体重为84.61千克，行进速度为每小时2.61千米。那个单独的相邻脚印是由恐鸟科的一个个体留下的，很可能属于 属，估计体重为158千克。这些恐鸟足迹化石代表了恐鸟第二早的化石记录。
