During an upgrade of a wastewater discourse plant in Auckland , New Zealand , contractors stumbled upon the unexpected – an ancient shell seam that has since become one of the richestfossilfinds in the country .
The hoarded wealth trove of fossils was unearthed whilst excavate scape for an raise to the urban center ’s main raw sewerage pipeline . After the uncovering was made , the jalopy of backbone was moved to a nearby field , where paleontologist began the lengthy process of testing and identification .
The researchers sifted through to find over 300,000 fogey of creatures from the Late Pliocene age . “ Detailed designation of the fossils shows that they were deposited between 3 and 3.7 million years ago in a subtidal TV channel in an early variation of the modern Manukau Harbour , ” enunciate lead author of the subject area , Bruce Hayward , in astatement .
“ At that clip , ocean level was slightly high than it is today as the humanity was also several degrees warmer than now . As a result , the fossils admit a identification number of subtropical specie , whose relatives today know in the warmer waters around the Kermadec and Norfolk islands . ”
Though the filmy number of fossils discovered could be turn over a significant find in itself , the dig became New Zealand ’s most divers .
“ What is surprising , ” say Hayward , “ is that the brute contains dodo that exist in many dissimilar environments that have been brought together in the ancient marine channel by undulation activeness and substantial tidal currents . ”
“ Most of the fossils live on the ocean storey , some in briny estuary , others attached to hard stony shorelines and still more have been channel in from offshore of the exposed west coast at the time . ”
The research squad identified 266 dissimilar fossil species , include 10 that were previously unknown . Other rare finds were the spine of an extinctsawshark , dental plates of eagle rays , and the carnivorous escargot genusBuccinulum .
The field also uncovered some of the oldest flax escargot fossils in the world . A genus of giant demesne snails native to New Zealand , several species are now nonextant , with onlythree remaining speciesliving threatened or peril in the area . The investigator find rare whole and broken shell of two of the extinct species , MaoristylusandArchaeostylus .
With a superfluity of new species discovered , the researchers desire that succeeding work will regard officially naming and identify them , as well as relative study with fossils found in other area of New Zealand .
The subject area is published in theNew Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics .
