Work being carried out at the dig site. Photo: Supplied
Million-year-old fossils have been found in a cave near Waitomo painting a picture of New Zealand wildlife in a period very little was known about.
The fossils were found at a cave in Waitomo known as Moa Eggshell Cave, and among them were 12 ancient bird species and four frog species.
There are ancient relatives of the Kākāpō and the Takahē. The fossils were analysed by a team of palaeontologists from Flinders University and Canterbury Museum along with volcanologists from around New Zealand.
Volcanic ash deposits surrounding and preserving the fossils were able to be dated, giving a window into a specific period from between 15 million and 1 million years ago - a period mostly absent in the country's fossil record.
The research is published this week in an Australian paleontology journal. Co-author and Canterbury Museum senior curator of natural history is Paul Scofield.
