Re: New Zealand

["John V Jackson" <jjackson@interalpha.co.uk>]

Thanks for replying, Derek:
-Original Message--from D. Tearne---Date: 27 February 1998 23:43


>>  (JJ said) When did New Zealand split off?
>
>New Zealand split from Gondwana sometime in the early cretaceous.


Don't some say late K?

>>Did Moas & Kiwi walk there or fly there?
>
>They could easily have walked.  There were dinosaurs in New Zealand
>which clearly walked here, why not moas?
>
>>If they walked (ie, were  already there) why no mammals in NZ?
>
>Good question.  I don't think anyone knows.

I am aiming at a theory that everything got wiped out on NZ at some time,
and recolonised it later.  I can just about believe the tuatara, skinks and
geckos could have floated there (despite the dodgy currents), but apparently
NZ has loads of frogs too.  Could they have rafted?  Kiwi and moas may have
flown across but may still be related to ratites since they are all related
to the fowl/ducks group - and early ones at that.   Since moas were found
early (I'm not sure how early), and since I can't think of any extermination
event except an ice-age, which probably postdates the earliest moas, and
possibly doesn't fit in with plant evidence, I'm a bit stuck.

John V Jackson    jjackson@interalpha.co.uk