Subfossil bones of the New Zealand pelican have been found at Lake Grassmere in Marlborough and at four North Island sites: Karikari Penisula, Motutapu Island, Lake Waikaremoana and Lake Poukawa. The pelvis is broader and more robust than the modern Australian pelican and so is regarded as a distinct species. The skeleton found at Poukawa is 3,500 – 4,500 years old. Bones from other sites are younger and may post–date man’s arrival in New Zealand. This species may have weighed as much as 12 kgs; the heaviest flying bird today is the trumpeter swan, Cygnus cygnus, which weighs about 12.5 kgs.
However, Worthy and Holdaway do not think New Zealand had a resident breeding population of pelican on the basis that its occurence in the fossil record is not significant and have returned the New Zealand pelican to the Australian P. conspiculatus.
| Taxonomy | |
|---|---|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Pelecaniformes |
| Family: | Pelecanidae |
| Genera: | Pelecanus |
| Species: | novaezealandiae |
| Sub Species: |
Other common names: —
Description: —
Extinct bird
12 kgs.
Where to find: —
Illustration description: —
A. Mitchell
Reference(s): —
Oliver, W.R.B. New Zealand Birds, 1955.
Gill & Martinson, NZ Extinct Birds, 1991.
Worthy, Trevor H., & Holdaway, Richard N., The Lost World of the Moa, 2002.
Page date & version: —
Thursday, 21 October, 2010; ver2009v1